Richard Bernas

Who is Richard Bernas?

Richard Bernas is a British-based conductor.

He studied Music at York University and conducting with Witold Rowicki in Warsaw.

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. 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.

With the ensemble and other orchestras Bernas has worked with many leading composers. World premieres he has conducted have included Gavin Bryars' opera "Medea", of which he is also the dedicatee, Nicholas Maw's Odyssey, James Dillon’s Oceanos John Casken's Golem as well as newly commissioned ballets for The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, where he has been a guest conductor since 1988.