Symphonic Experiences
Music Director
Building Orchestras. Building Communities.
Since his appointment as Music Director of the Massapequa Philharmonic in 2016, David Bernard has transformed the orchestra into what the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts calls a cultural leader on Long Island — with sold-out concerts, a residency at the Tilles Center, and deep partnerships with the Nassau County Museum of Art, the Long Island Choral Society, the Eglevsky Ballet, and the Massapequa Public Schools.
Over his tenure as Music Director of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony the same vision has produced performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, a recording catalog reviewed by Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, Fanfare, and Stereophile, and an audience that has grown season after season.
As Music Director of the Eglevsky Ballet, Bernard has led Long Island’s premiere production of “The Nutcracker” for over 10 years, working with dancers from New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Miami City Ballet, collaborating with some of the most celebrated artists in the ballet world.
"David Bernard has made a huge impact on culture on Long Island through his artistic vision and commitment to Long Island audiences." — Tom Dunn, Executive Director, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts
"Under his gifted leadership, the Massapequa Philharmonic has become a premier orchestra on Long Island. David Bernard is a skillful musician and conductor, with a gift for fostering musical communities within the orchestra, throughout Massapequa, and across Long Island." — Jennifer Trested, President, Massapequa Philharmonic
Guest Conductor
On the road.
As a guest conductor, David Bernard brings to every podium the same conviction that defines his work as Music Director — bringing Music that Matters to orchestras and their audiences.
Orchestras that have worked with Bernard consistently describe the same experience: a conductor who arrives completely prepared, maximizes every minute of limited rehearsal time, and leaves the ensemble performing at a level that surprises even its own members. Board presidents and principal musicians alike describe his guest appearances as highlights of their seasons — a conductor who is simultaneously demanding and inspiring, who communicates his interpretive vision with clarity and precision, and who makes musicians want to play at their highest level.
"Mr. Bernard was eager to learn more about the orchestra and its musicians. It was clear that at the end of each rehearsal, the orchestra's sound was improving. A performance with David Bernard at the helm is a guarantee for an incredible musical performance." — President, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra
"David had to familiarize himself with our culture and move us to perform with passion and precision. I was proud of the performance." — President, South Shore Symphony
He has appeared with orchestras across the United States including the Brooklyn Symphony, Greenwich Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Danbury Symphony, Greater Newburgh Symphony, Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Island Symphony, South Shore Symphony, Litha Symphony, and ensembles from the Manhattan School of Music.
Acclaim
What the Critics Say.
"A sincere and considered engagement with Mahler's inexhaustible score, full of warmth, longing and immediacy. Bernard's ear for textural interplay and contrapuntal transparency yields striking high-definition moments." — Gramophone
"One of the best Mahler 9s I've heard — deeply moving, well played, handsomely engineered and emotionally satisfying." — The Arts Desk
"I was unprepared for the easy, peaceful opening of the Park Avenue's Ninth, with its blended, coolly lyrical violins and focused lead horn. Bernard shapes and tapers the motifs to fine effect, with clear textures, the right intensity and vivid, directional sonics." — Stereophile
"Parts emerge like newly scrubbed details in a restored painting. Bernard and his musicians frequently shed new and valuable light on a thrice-familiar standard." — Gramophone
"This interpretation is flawless both musically and artistically. The success of this album must be acknowledged, showcasing the high quality of the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony under David Bernard's precise and inspired direction." — Crescendo Magazine, Brussels
"Beautifully engineered release with unusual contrapuntal clarity. One can take dictation from the Rondo-Burleske's sophisticated and spotlit polyphonic interplay. The Adagio stands out for shapely, vocally oriented ensemble playing, intensity, and rhythmic accuracy." — Classics Today
"Bernard shapes the score with fine control, savouring its tender and invigorating material minus mannerism or bluster." — Gramophone
"Conductor David Bernard has a natural feeling for the echt Mahlerian style: tempi, the application of rubato, the relationship between sections and movements all sound right to me. I much enjoy the clean lines and highly musical phrasing and pacing of this account." — MusicWeb International
InsideOut Concerts
The Concert Reimagined.
InsideOut Concerts are not simply about where the audience sits. They are a carefully designed experience — built around how music is presented, how the audience is guided through it, and how the physical placement inside the orchestra makes everything that follows viscerally immediate.
David Bernard developed and patented the InsideOut format after years of thinking about what separates those who love classical music from those who have never found a way in. The answer, he concluded, was experience — specifically, the experience of being inside the music-making itself. Performers develop their passion for classical music by playing in ensembles. InsideOut gives audiences that same vantage point: hearing and feeling the music from within the orchestra, watching the conductor communicate with the musicians, sensing how the sections respond to each other, and understanding how the great masterpieces unfold from the inside.
Every InsideOut event is guided by Bernard from the podium — introducing each work, illuminating what to listen for, and leading the audience through the experience so that even first-time concertgoers leave with a new understanding of what classical music is and why it matters. Two formats are available: a full immersive experience for adults featuring complete masterworks, and a family experience with abbreviated works and an instrument zoo for younger audiences.
InsideOut has been brought to orchestras across the region including the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, the Massapequa Philharmonic, the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, and the Danbury Symphony Orchestra, and is available for booking by orchestras, presenters, and venues nationwide.
What the press says:
"David Bernard is transforming concert-going... the seats are with the players themselves, in the thick of the violins or right next to a harp. There's no separation here, just a mass of pumping hearts in a single musical communion." — WQXR
"The ultimate surround-sound experience. And perhaps it's the future of classical music." — New York One
"From my seat between the second violins and the violas, that magical transition when the reedy little theme blossoms into the first variation, with its soft throb and swirl of the full orchestra, was like going from narrow screen to CinemaScope." — New York Classical Review
"It is a hair-raising experience to become a part of this living, breathing mechanism known as an orchestra. A transcendent experience, indeed. It is heart-stoppingly exciting!" — BroadwayWorld Classical
"The PACS's InsideOut concerts are nothing short of a classical revolution." — BroadwayWorld Classical
What audiences say:
"I have been to many concerts at the world's great concert halls, but none were close to as memorable as the InsideOut concert I experienced on Sunday. I have never in my life engaged with music as holistically or dramatically — as ecstatically — as I did while sitting on stage among those musicians. I have never been so fully enveloped in such magnificent sound. It was a thrill of a lifetime!"
"Absolutely and positively one of the best experiences ever! This is a smart investment in the future growth of symphony audiences."
"We've become musical 'converts' solely due to your InsideOut concert experience and thoroughly anticipate the next one."
"Incredible! Took my husband and three girls where we sat between the violins and flutes. I literally started crying the second the music began because I was so happy to be there."