Miquel Bernat

Percussion
!! Spanish version : please see the French tab
LINK : Drumming, the Bernat's percussion group in Portugal.
Miquel Bernat : Selected repertoire

Miquel Bernat received his musical education at the conservatories of Valencia, Madrid, Brussels and Rotterdam, and at the Aspen Summer Music Festival (USA). He was granted the "Premio Extraordinario Fin de Carrera" at the Conservatory of Madrid, the Special Prize for Percussion at the Dutch Gaudeamus Competition and the 2nd prize at the Aspen Nakamichi Competition.

Being a musician of great versatility, he has played with the Orquesta Ciutat de Barcelona and with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, as well as in the contemporary music ensembles Ictus, Ictus Piano and Percussion Quartet, Trio Allures, Duo Contemporain, among others.

As a soloist in numerous performances, he has premiered the "Concerto pour Marimba et 15 instruments" by David del Puerto at the "Ars Musica Festival" in Brussels and at the "Ensems" Festival in Valencia, Spain. He premiered “Campos Magnéticos” by Cesar Camarero with the Orquesta Nacional of Porto, Portugal and the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid. Other concertos premiered are: Mantis Walk in a Metal Space by Javier Alvarez, for Steel Drums with ensemble and electronics, at IRCAM/Centre G. Pompidou in París, 2003; Sombrío by Luis de Pablo in Auditório Nacional de España/Música de Hoy, Madrid 2005; Night by Mauricio Sotelo in the Casa da Música of Porto 2007, the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid and Teatro Central de Sevilla 2008, and from the same composer Chalan (new version) at the Warsaw Festival 2009 with the Radio-Television Orchestra from Spain. Marlos Nobre Triple Percussion Concerto with Gulbenkian Orchestra from Lisboa 2011. Recently he premiered the Concerto for Percussion by Joan Guinjoan with Cadaqués Orchestra in Palau de la Música, Barcelona.

Formerly a professor at the Rotterdam and Brussels conservatories, he is currently engaged intensively in pedagogical activities at the “Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya” in Barcelona, and the "Escola Superior de Musica do Porto" and Aveiro University (Portugal). As Lecturer and Master Class Professor he has been invited to Darmstadt Summer Course (Germany), Instrumenta de Oaxaca (Mexico), the International Summer Course of Brasilia, among many other universities in Argentina, South Africa, the USA, UK and Australia.

In Porto, he founded DRUMMING: Grupo de Percussão, which was selected as the Resident Music Group when Porto was the 2001 Cultural Capital of Europe. Drumming-GP has become one of the leading percussion ensembles in the world, uniquely expanding interactions between music and other art forms.

Miguel is regularly invited to the most reputed international contemporary music festivals and concert halls, such as the Opera de Paris, the Citè de la Musique, the festival “Música” in Strasbourg, the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, the Barbican Center of London, the Auditorio Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Darwin Guitarre Festival, the Next Wave Festival in Brooklyn, NewYork, the Helsinky Festival, and the Parco de la Música in Rome. He has also performed as soloist, ensemble player and/or leader of master classes in Turkey, Japan, Thailand, and South Africa.

He has performed extensively with various dance companies, including as soloist in "Just Before" by the Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and her company ROSAS. With ROSAS, he has also performed "Drumming Live", "Rain", "Steve Reich Evening" and April me. “Psappha”, by the Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, and the Ballet Gulbenkian of Lisbon, was another successful collaboration with dance and percussion.

A passionate performer of new music, Miquel Bernat has worked with numerous composers (many works have been dedicated to him) thus contributing to the expansion and evolution of the contemporary repertoire for percussion.