Bach to Benny Goodman

Michael 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.

Wolak received his doctorate from the Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan, Poland. 
He grew up in Włocławek, a small city west of Warsaw. His parents were both professional musicians and by the age of 5, Wolak was taking piano lessons and dreaming of becoming a famous musician. At 12, Wolak took up the clarinet and became obsessed with mastering the instrument. At 16 he left home for studies at the conservatory in Poznan. Later he moved to Canada which offered him a safe harbour, a place to launch a stellar international career as a soloist and an offramp to pursue his impressive academic achievements.