Video: https://www.facebook.com/michael.bridge.566/videos/370061372673838

This performance was amazing! Michael Bridge shares, “I was invited to improvise a score for this film at the Marie Dressler Foundation Vintage Film Festival. It was about 100 minutes long. All sounds were played 100% love through the digital accordion. This was my first time improvising for so long on stage and an interesting side effect was that I had some difficulty speaking afterwards—my tongue felt kind of floppy. Listening back, in this passage I used rubber bass pedals, muted bandoneon, vibraphone, music box, trombone (8ba), falling insects, distorted french horn, nylon guitar, distorted accordion melody, distorted chapel organ bass, regular french horns (8ba), accordion free bass sound (briefly), and pipe organ. Can you hear them all?”

The Marie Dressler Foundation is a federally registered non-profit organization. The Vintage Film Festival held every year in the autumn is part of the Foundation and an awesome Festival screening unique films from the past.

Denise Ball shares, “Michael Bridge is a musical maverick. He’s a virtuoso performer on both the acoustic accordion and its 21st Century cousin, the digital accordion. His concerts capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the elegance and discipline of chamber music. He’s won a slew of competitions in Canada and abroad and was named one of CBC’s 30 under 30 classical musicians. He received his doctorate in accordion performance from the University of Toronto and is a Rebanks Fellow at the Glenn Gould School. He gives over 100 concerts a year as a soloist and as a member of Bridge & Wolak and Ladom Ensemble. He’s in high demand for masterclasses around the world. Dr. Bridge embraces a musical aesthetic that is alternatively irreverent, deadly serious, meticulously prepared and completely in-the-moment. He’s at home with classical, contemporary, jazz and folk music and has premiered 53 new works. Ultimately, he aims to make your world more bearable, beautiful and human—even if only for the length of a concert.”

Future performances include:

April 6, 2024: Amherst Island, ON
Bridge & Wolak @ BachHause Concerts

April 17, 2024: Sarnia, ON.
Ladom Ensemble @ Imperial Theatre

April 27, 2024: Southwest Symphony, Hobbs, NM
Bridge & Wolak

May 5, 2024: Lula Lounge, Toronto, ON
Bridge & Wolak

June 15, 2024: Rijeka, Croatia
Wirth Institute Presents BTW Trio (Michael Bridge, Guillaume Tardif, & Kornel Wolak)

July 18, 2024: Stratford, Toronto, ON
Stratford Summer Music Opening Night Gala

July 26, 2024: Accordionists & Teachers’ Guild, Int. Festival, Kansas City, MO
Bridge & Wolak in concert (with Grayson Masefield)

For further information: michael@michaelbridgec.com