Michael Bridge

Micheal Bridge began playing when he was 5 and growing up in Calgary. His mom bought an accordion at a garage sale for $5. A family friend started teaching him to play by ear. Formal lessons began at 7.

Today he performs on a digital accordion – essentially a computer housed in a conventional accordion case that can imitate the sound of just about any instrument you can imagine. He can single-handedly shake the rafters sounding like a full rock drum kit or a symphony orchestra.

He’s also a master of the more familiar acoustic accordion, a soulful, highly expressive instrument. Bridge received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Toronto and was a Rebanks Fellows at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.