Cecilia Bernardini

Cecilia Bernardini
Violinist

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Biography

 

Dutch–Italian Cecilia Bernardini is widely considered to be one of the most versatile violinists of her generation, performing on both the modern and the baroque violin.

She obtained prices in major violin competitions amongst which Oskar Back Vioolconcours, Concorso Internazionale Violinistico Andrea Postacchini and Leopold Mozart Competition Augsburg.

 

 

As a soloist, Cecilia has performed in many of Europe's most prestigious concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna and Konzerthaus Berlin, playing much of the main violin concerto repertoire, including the Bach violin concertos and double concertos, several Mozart concertos, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch and Szymanowski. In 2010, she performed the violin solo part at the world première of Philip Glass's Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra with the Residentie Orkest.

Cecilia frequently leads and directs modern and period instrument ensembles including Ensemble Zefiro, Arcangelo with Jonathan Cohen (recordings with Hyperion), Pygmalion with Raphael Pichon (recordings with Erato), Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto, Holland Baroque Society, The King’s Consort (performing and recording with them widely across Europe in repertoire as diverse as Purcell, Handel, Bach, Haydn, Stanford and Britten), Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Robin Ticciati (including the Edinburgh International Festival), Camerata Salzburg (including the Linz Brucknerhaus and the Salzburg Festival), Bach Collegium Japan, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and The Netherlands Bachvereniging with Jos van Veldhoven. 

With her great passion for chamber music, Cecilia is a member of the Serafino String Trio, joining violist Giles Francis and cellist Timora Rosler. She has a duo with fortepianist Keiko Shichijo (with whom she did an extensive tour at the Utrecht Oude Muziek Festival) and regularly performs with her father, baroque oboist Alfredo Bernardini. Past Chamber music partners include baroque violinist Stanley Ritchie,  double-bass player Rick Stotijn, fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, pianist Alexandre Tharaud and cellist Colin Carr.

In 2012 Cecilia was appointed leader of the Dunedin Consort, based in Scotland, with whom she has recorded Bach's St. John Passion and a best-selling disc of the Brandenburg Concertos, which has been nominated for a Gramophone award at the same time as Mozart’s Requiem by the same group. Future releases with the Dunedin Consort include Bach's Violin Concertos and Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat.

Future engagements include several appearances at the Wigmore Hall in London, both as an orchestral leader and as a soloist (Bach violin concertos with Dunedin Consort), performances at the Bruges Early Music Festival (Biber's Rosary sonatas with Richard Egarr), Thüringer Bachwochen (Brandenburg Concertos with Holland Baroque Society), Sablé Early Music Festival and several recordings including Purcell's sonnatas in three parts with the King's Consort.

Cecilia plays on a 1750 Santo Serafin violin, kindly loaned to her by the the Netherlands Musical Instrument Foundation, and in baroque repertoire plays a 1743 Camillus Camilli violin kindly loaned by the Jumpstart Foundation.

© 2010 - 2017 Cecilia Bernardini | Violinist | www.ceciliabernardini.com