Richard Bernas
Encyclopedia
Richard Bernas is a British-based conductor.
He studied Music at York University (UK) and conducting with Witold Rowicki
in Warsaw (1976).
After a period working as a pianist and percussionist – when he collaborated with such composers as Karlheinz Stockhausen
, John Cage
, Earle Brown
and Morton Feldman
and played in the live electronic improvising group Gentle Fire - he founded the new music ensemble Music Projects/London (1978) http://www.compositiontoday.com/interviews/richardbernas.asp. The ensemble toured in Europe, recorded for the BBC
and other radio stations, appeared at major UK Festivals and recorded for NMC, Virgin, Factory and Decca. His recording of John Casken
's opera Golem with Music Projects/London won the Gramophone Award for Contemporary Music (1991) http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0150872.html.
With the ensemble and other orchestras Bernas has worked with many leading composers. World premieres he has conducted have included Nicholas Maw
's Odyssey (1989 Royal Festival Hall), James Dillon
’s Oceanos (1996 BBC Proms) http://www.edition-peters.com/php/artist_details.php?artist=DILLON§ion=composer John Casken
's Golem (1989 Almeida Opera) as well as newly commissioned ballets for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden
, where he has been a guest conductor since 1988 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/arts/music/04cove.html?scp=1&sq=%22richard%20bernas%22&st=cse.
Other theatre work includes Mozart's Idomeneo for the Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse (2000) http://www.theatre-du-capitole.org/sommaire/99-00/operas/idomeneo/accueil.htm, the Ravel Operas for Opera Zuid Holland (2003), Britten's Death in Venice (Scottish Opera 1988) and The Prince of the Pagodas at Covent Garden and at the MET http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5D7143BF932A15754C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=2&sq=%22richard%20bernas%22&st=cse. He conducted the BBC television production of Mark Anthony Turnage's Greek, which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 1992.
Since 2001 Richard Bernas has also been a Music Consultant at Tate Modern
, London. The work he has developed there is gallery and site specific rather than based on conventional concert hall situations. It has included performing Feldman's Rothko Chapel and Tallis' Lamentations in Tate's Rothko Room, commissioning Rebecca Saunders
' Chroma (2003) for the large Turbine Hall, performing music during such exhibitions as Arte povera
, Brancusi, Open Systems and Kandinsky http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/the-sound-of-colour-almeida-theatre-london--none-onestar-twostar-threestar-fivestar-407420.html, mounting a large scale John Cage Musicircus to celebrate the re-hang of the Abstract collection (2006) http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/musicperform/johncagesmusicircus5668.htm and collaborations with BBC Radio 3
.
He studied Music at York University (UK) and conducting with Witold Rowicki
Witold Rowicki
Witold Rowicki was a Polish conductor. He held principal conducting positions with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.His recordings include:...
in Warsaw (1976).
After a period working as a pianist and percussionist – when he collaborated with such composers as Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Earle Brown
Earle Brown
Earle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
and Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
and played in the live electronic improvising group Gentle Fire - he founded the new music ensemble Music Projects/London (1978) http://www.compositiontoday.com/interviews/richardbernas.asp. The ensemble toured in Europe, recorded for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and other radio stations, appeared at major UK Festivals and recorded for NMC, Virgin, Factory and Decca. His recording of John Casken
John Casken
John Casken is an English composer, born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.Casken read music at the University of Birmingham, studying composition and contemporary music with John Joubert and Peter Dickinson. He then went on to study in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski on a Polish government...
's opera Golem with Music Projects/London won the Gramophone Award for Contemporary Music (1991) http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0150872.html.
With the ensemble and other orchestras Bernas has worked with many leading composers. World premieres he has conducted have included Nicholas Maw
Nicholas Maw
John Nicholas Maw was a British composer.-Biography:Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, Maw was the son of Clarence Frederick Maw and Hilda Ellen Chambers. He attended the Wennington School, a boarding school, in Wetherby in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was 14...
's Odyssey (1989 Royal Festival Hall), James Dillon
James Dillon (composer)
James Dillon, born October 29, 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Scottish composer often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.Honors include...
’s Oceanos (1996 BBC Proms) http://www.edition-peters.com/php/artist_details.php?artist=DILLON§ion=composer John Casken
John Casken
John Casken is an English composer, born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.Casken read music at the University of Birmingham, studying composition and contemporary music with John Joubert and Peter Dickinson. He then went on to study in Poland with Andrzej Dobrowolski on a Polish government...
's Golem (1989 Almeida Opera) as well as newly commissioned ballets for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, where he has been a guest conductor since 1988 http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/arts/music/04cove.html?scp=1&sq=%22richard%20bernas%22&st=cse.
Other theatre work includes Mozart's Idomeneo for the Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse (2000) http://www.theatre-du-capitole.org/sommaire/99-00/operas/idomeneo/accueil.htm, the Ravel Operas for Opera Zuid Holland (2003), Britten's Death in Venice (Scottish Opera 1988) and The Prince of the Pagodas at Covent Garden and at the MET http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5D7143BF932A15754C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&&scp=2&sq=%22richard%20bernas%22&st=cse. He conducted the BBC television production of Mark Anthony Turnage's Greek, which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 1992.
Since 2001 Richard Bernas has also been a Music Consultant at Tate Modern
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
, London. The work he has developed there is gallery and site specific rather than based on conventional concert hall situations. It has included performing Feldman's Rothko Chapel and Tallis' Lamentations in Tate's Rothko Room, commissioning Rebecca Saunders
Rebecca Saunders
-Biography:Saunders studied violin and composition at the University of Edinburgh. This was followed by a scholarship from the DAAD from 1991 to 1994 to study composition at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm, and in 1997 a doctorate in composition with Nigel Osborne.She has...
' Chroma (2003) for the large Turbine Hall, performing music during such exhibitions as Arte povera
Arte Povera
Arte Povera is a modern art movement. The term was introduced in Italy during the period of upheaval at the end of the 1960s, when artists were taking a radical stance. Artists began attacking the values of established institutions of government, industry, and culture, and even questioning whether...
, Brancusi, Open Systems and Kandinsky http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/the-sound-of-colour-almeida-theatre-london--none-onestar-twostar-threestar-fivestar-407420.html, mounting a large scale John Cage Musicircus to celebrate the re-hang of the Abstract collection (2006) http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/musicperform/johncagesmusicircus5668.htm and collaborations with BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
.