New York Critics praise David Bernard’s conducting as bringing “clarity and a sense of spontaneity” to “polished, stellar and riveting performances.” Bernard has performed in more than twenty countries on four continents, he conducts regularly at major concert venues, including Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, and his performances have been featured on radio stations WQXR and WNYC, and on television station WCBS. He has been featured in PlaybillArts.com, The Juilliard Journal, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, and The New York Times.
Bernard is music director of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, a post he has held since 1999. He has previously served as music director of the Stony Brook University Orchestra, the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island and Theater Three, and was assistant conductor of both the Stamford Symphony (CT) and the Jacksonville Symphony (FL).
A pianist and harpsichord/continuo player, Bernard often leads baroque works from the keyboard and also appears in performance in the dual rôle of soloist and conductor. He has prepared a new edition of Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 1, has written a Music Theory textbook, “The Structural Principles of Music” and lectures on musicology, music history and musicianship, most recently “Musicianship in Performance”, an exploration of the decisions musicians make when creating performances.
Bernard has conducted world premières of works by Bruce Adolphe, Chris Caswell, John Mackey and Ted Rosenthal and has collaborated with notable artists, including Carter Brey, David Chan, Catherine Cho, Pedro Diaz, Bart Feller, Whoopi Goldberg, Judith Ingolfsson, Christina Jennings, Jessica Lee, Soyeon Lee, Jon Manasse, Todd Phillips and James Archie Worley.
Bernard has demonstrated a deep commitment to elementary and secondary school music education, developing new talent and providing solo performance experience to young artists. His leadership in fundraising for music education programs has bolstered outreach programs, community music schools and conservatory preparatory programs—most notably the Harmony Program (a New York City program modeled after Venezuela’s “El Sistema”), the Lucy Moses School and establishing the Parent’s Association Endowed Scholarship Fund at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division.
Bernard is an alumnus of The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, Stony Brook University, the Tanglewood Music Center and Saratoga Performing Arts Center.