Cecilia Bernardini
Cecilia Bernardini grew up in a family of baroque musicians. She studied both modern and baroque violin in Amsterdam and London and graduated with distinction. She currently enjoys a flourishing career on period instruments, playing all musical styles from the early baroque up to the romantic period.
As a soloist she worked with conductors such as Jurjen Hempel, John Butt, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Jaap ter Linden and Raphael Pichon, performing at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Musikverein in Vienna, Konzerthaus in Berlin etc.
Cecilia has a passion for chamber music. Together with fortepianist Keiko Shichijo she forms a duo, with whom she has played in many major festivals and concert series. With the addition of cellist Marcus van den Munckhof they formed “Trio Marie Soldat”, specializing mostly in 19th century performance practice.
She is also a member of the Quartetto Bernardini, with her father oboist Alfredo Bernardini, violist Simone Jandl and cellist Marcus van den Munckhof.
Until recently, Cecilia held the position of leader of both the Dunedin Consort and Ensemble Pygmalion. She made numerous award-winning recordings with both groups, amongst which Bach’s violin concertos with the Dunedin Consort, which received high critical acclaim. She also regularly leads other groups, such as Ensemble Zefiro, Arcangelo, The Netherlands Bachvereniging, Tafelmusik, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra and Freiburger Barockorchester.
As of 2019 she has been appointed leader of the Belgium-based B’Rock orchestra.
Cecilia has built up an extensive discography. Recent recordings include Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos with Ensemble Zefiro, the complete sonatas for violin and harp by Spohr with Masumi Nagasawa, oboe quartets “Around Mozart” with Quartetto Bernardini and piano trios by Beethoven and Schubert with Trio Marie Soldat.
She plays on a 1643 Nicolò Amati violin, kindly loaned to her by the Netherlands Music Instrument Foundation (www.muziekinstrumentenfonds.nl)