Founding Music Director of New York City’s famed Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, DAVID BERNARD has performed in more than 20 countries on four continents. His incisive performances have been heard in many of the city’s most prestigious venues, among them Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall and The Riverside Church, as well as on radio stations WNYC and WQXR and telecast on WCBS. He and his work have been profiled in Symphony Magazine, PlaybillArts.com, The Juilliard Journal, New York’s Daily News, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Bernard led the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony on a nine-city tour of the People’s Republic of China and has appeared as a guest conductor with the China Conservatory Orchestra, the China Conservatory/Ithaca College/Oberlin College Faculty Contemporary Ensemble, the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble and the Putnam Symphony.
A 2012 First Prize Winner of the Orchestral Conducting competition of The American Prize, David Bernard was described by the judges as "A first rate conductor--a stunning, lovely performance--masterly in shaping, phrasing, technique and expressivity. Insightful and inspired, Maestro Bernard possesses the vision and skill to build beautifully shaped interpretations of the major repertoire. A significant talent."
Devoted to the music of our own time, Bernard has presented world premières of scores by Bruce Adolphe, Chris Caswell, John Mackey and Ted Rosenthal, while distinguished concert collaborators include Carter Brey, David Chan, Catherine Cho, Pedro Díaz, Bart Feller, Whoopi Goldberg, Judith Ingolfsson, Christina Jennings, Jessica Lee, Jon Manasse, Todd Phillips and James Archie Worley.
David Bernard is passionately committed to elementary and secondary school music education, continuously developing new talent and providing solo performance experience to exciting young artists. His leadership in fundraising for music education programs has bolstered outreach, community music schools and conservatory preparatory programs - most notably the Harmony Program (a New York City initiative modeled after Venezuela’s “El Sistema”) and the Lucy Moses School. Mr. Bernard has also established the Parent’s Association Endowed Scholarship Fund at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division.
Prior to the 1999 founding of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, David Bernard served as Music Director of the Stony Brook University Orchestra, the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island and Theater Three. He also held the post of Assistant Conductor of both the Jacksonville and Stamford symphony orchestras.
Bernard is an alumnus of The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Stony Brook University, Tanglewood and Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and studied with Sergiu Celibdache, David Lawton, Roger Nierenberg and Arthur Weisberg.
David Bernard’s discography includes 17 albums spanning music from Vivaldi to Copland, and released on Amazon.com, iTunes, Napster and Rhapsody and his recent performances with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony have inspired significant critical acclaim:
Beethoven Symphony No. 4Mahler Symphony No. 1
"David Bernard conducted from memory, without a score: he has these pieces in his fingers, leading the orchestra with a vigorous meticulousness, bolstered by a confidence that there were no limits on where this music might go, from a whisper to a scream. Bernard set up the fireworks up by keeping the mournful initial stillness rapt and mysterious. The effect was stunning -- Bernard and the ensemble took it up as far as the roof would allow."
-LucidCulture.com
Beethoven Symphony No. 4Mahler Symphony No. 1
"An exemplary performance. Conducting without a score, Maestro Bernard led his players in an assured, beautifully shaped and well-paced performance. Maestro Bernard led the huge orchestra with discrete, clear and concise gestures. It was a very impressive performance."
-Harry Saltzman, New York Concert Review
Strauss Death and Transfiguration
"David Bernard’s performance of Strauss Death and Transfiguration was a real triumph. Bernard, who conducted from memory, brought raw, dramatic intensity to the urgent sections, while conducting the noble transfiguration theme with utmost tenderness and lovely, sustained pacing. Balances were unusually clear, considering the church’s resonant acoustics; Bernard found ways to bring out woodwind details, and the brass shined with solid, blended playing."
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review
Strauss Death and Transfiguration
"Conductor David Bernard offered a fresh and inspired take of Strauss Death and Transfiguration that worked magically."
-LucidCulture.com
Beethoven Symphony No. 8
"The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony was captivating throughout; the clarity of rhythm and the musical conviction of the players were superb in what was a sparkling account. Music Director and Conductor David Bernard made the most of Beethoven’s melodic material by emphasizing the shape of the musical line. All dynamics were presented with great contrast, but Bernard also brought out the nuanced, Haydnesque elements in the music: the humor, the grace, the lightness of touch in the orchestration, and he emphasized the Viennese dance music that permeates the score."
-Holly Nelson, New York Concert Review
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
“The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony scored a triumph…David Bernard, the Chamber Symphony’s Music Director, led both pieces from memory, with clarity and a sense of spontaneity…the orchestra played with a strong sense of style and commitment…under the guidance of Mr. Bernard [the orchestra played] with the depth and fervor of the old school European orchestras."
-David LaMarche, New York Concert Review
Vivaldi "The Four Seasons"
Vivaldi Gloria
"..A riveting and stellar performance on all fronts. Music Director David Bernard, who led the performance while playing the harpsichord, did an excellent job of maintaining solid ensemble-playing and consistently driven tempos in what was a crisply articulate, high-energy account…a memorable performance…Bernard conducted the Gloria from memory and with an astute ear for phrasing and color."
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review
Beethoven Symphony No. 6
Copland Appalachian Spring Suite
"David Bernard conducted the entire program—including the concerto and a difficult Copland work—without a score. Beethoven’s sixth symphony sounded terrific and was polished to excellence. Copland’s notoriously difficult “Appalachian Spring” Suite was played very well. The opening A’s were unusually and nicely poised, the closing chorale section was phrased beautifully, and the last three glockenspiel and harp notes were perfect."
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review
Bizet Symphony in C
Debussy Nocturnes
Gershwin "An American in Paris"
"The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony played [Bizet’s Symphony in C] marvelously well; David Bernard’s tempo choices were fittingly musical—the last movement Allegro vivace, for example, wasn’t hurried or flashed for effect, but played so details could be heard. This was indeed a polished performance. In Debussy’s Nocturnes the dreamy mood in Nuages (clouds) was captured exquisitely. Gershwin’s An American in Paris was very solid and evocative. Bernard added some nice touches, like a longer-than-usual bassoon grace note at the beginning of one of the slower parts. Bernard conducted the entire program from memory, the orchestra was confident and musical, technically impressive and extremely well-prepared."
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
"The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s talented Music Director, David Bernard, led a performance of Beethoven’s 5 with excellent precision of ensemble. I really liked Bernard’s emphasis of the first movement’s famous four-note motive when it appears in the horns. The last movement Allegro was faster than usual—it was refreshing to hear.
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review
Strauss "On the Beautiful Blue Danube"
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20
Shostakovich Symphony No. 5
"A charming, well-prepared performance….Bernard chose a stylistically well- balanced program, one that presented music from three different centuries. The performance of Shostakovich’s challenging Fifth Symphony was very impressive."
-Anthony Aibel, New York Concert Review