About
Recognized for his deeply personal approach to music and ability to connect with a wide range of audiences, violinist David Bernat leads a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, and artistic director.
David has appeared as a soloist with the Brookline Symphony, Fort Dodge Symphony, and Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony and given recitals throughout the United States, Europe, and China. In 2020, he was the recipient of the 3rd Prize of the World Bach Competition.
A sought-after chamber musician, David’s recent engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood with the New Fromm Players, Marlboro Music Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival and Red Barn Chamber Music in Iowa City, and radio appearances on the BBC Radio 3 program “In Tune” and WQXR’s Greene Space. He has collaborated with the Frisson Ensemble and Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and has been a participant in the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Moritzburg Festival Academy.
A passionate advocate for contemporary music, David has enjoyed close collaborations with distinguished composers Thomas Adès, John Adams, John Harbison, Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lerdahl, and George Walker. Recent projects include the commission of a new work for mixed quintet, Stretched (2022) by New York based composer Hannah Ishizaki and the premiere of Lullaby (2023) by Yike Zhang.
Heavily committed to community engagement, advocacy, and education, David holds the 2023-2025 Ensemble Connect Fellowship from Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. He currently serves as a partner teacher at I.S/P.S 226 Alfred de B. Mason in Brooklyn and undertakes interactive performances at schools, shelters, hospitals, and retirement communities throughout New York City. He was a recipient of the New England Conservatory’s Community Partnerships and Programs Fellowship where he brought music to the Women’s Lunch Place, a women’s shelter in downtown Boston, through Music for Food.
As a curator, David is the founder and Artistic Director of the Grace Note Farm Music Festival, which is now in its fourth season. The festival’s mission is to build community through music by bringing together musicians and audience members from throughout New England to enjoy the beautiful and historic northwest corner of Rhode Island.
Alongside his musical activities, David is a distinguished chess player, having learned the game at a young age. With renewed passion following the chess boom during the pandemic, he achieved the National Master title in 2021 making him among the top one percent of players in the United States.
David is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and is currently a C.V Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School. His past teachers include Joseph Lin, Soovin Kim, Yuan-Qing Yu, and Katie Wolfe. He plays on a G.B Guadagnini violin from 1753 on loan from the Juilliard School.
