The Concert Accordion: 226 Buttons, 860 Reeds, Boundless Possibilities
Michael Bridge and Grace Stewart '17
Michael Bridge is a musical maverick. “A wizard of the accordion” (CBC), he’s a virtuoso performer on both the acoustic accordion and its 21st century cousin, the digital accordion. His concerts and improvisations capture the energy and panache of stadium rock with the elegance and discipline of chamber music.
It all began when Bridge was 5 years old, growing up in Calgary, when his mom bought him a $5 accordion at a garage sale. He has since performed throughout Europe, 25 U.S. states, and all Canadian provinces. He received his doctorate in accordion performance from the University of Toronto. He’s at home with classical, contemporary, jazz, and folk music and has premiered 60 new works.
Bridge embraces a musical aesthetic that is alternatively irreverent, deadly serious, meticulously prepared and completely in-the-moment. Ultimately, he aims to make your world more bearable, beautiful and human—even if only for the length of a concert.
Grace Stewart ’17 is a mezzo-soprano who performs opera, musical theater, and choral repertoire throughout the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and Orange County regions. She received her M.M. in Opera Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at Cal State Long Beach. Opera credits include Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro at CSULB and chorus in numerous Pacific Opera Project productions including L’elisir d’amore, Pirates of Penzance, Trial by Jury, Die Fledermaus, Don Bucefalo, and HMS Pinafore. Favorite theater credits include featured dancer in Something Rotten at Rialto Community Players and Legendary Productions’ Beauty and the Beast as Madame de la Grande Bouche and Into the Woods as Lucinda. Grace sings with Pacific Chorale, and she has also sung as a member and soloist of Inland Master Chorale, including as Mother in a concert performance of the musical Ragtime.
Stewart graduated from CMC in 2017 with a major in Environmental Analysis. While at CMC, she took voice lessons at Scripps and gave a senior recital at the Athenaeum in April 2017.