Bernard Zinck HEADSHOT

Bernard Zinck

  • Associate Professor, Violin
  • Area Head, Strings and String Pedagogy
  • Chamber Music Coach

Education

Premier Prix Violon and Musique de Chambre, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris
DMA, Music Performance, Temple University
MM & BM, Music Violin Performance, The Juilliard School

Biography

French violinist Bernard Zinck known for his “round and opulent tone and his vibrato bringing moments of sheer ecstasy” [the Strad] began his career after winning the 1992 Yehudi Menuhin Trust Award in Paris.

His talent and interpretive insight have made him a sought-after musician who has performed extensively in concerts and recitals in Europe, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Haiti, Brazil, South Korea and Japan. His artistry has been praised in terms such as “impeccable accuracy of pitch” and “formidable technique”. FanfareMagazine was impressed by the “singing, sensuous, sumptuous, shimmering” quality of his playing, which Le Figaro summed up in the expression “violon solaire.”

A frequent guest artist at music festivals and venues worldwide, Zinck has performed at Weill Hall at Carnegie Recital Hall, National Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Santa Fe Concert Association (United States); Oscar Peterson Hall in Montreal (Canada); Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro and International Chamber Music Festival of Paraíba (Brazil); Oji Hall and Shirakawa Hall (Japan). In Europe, he has given concerts at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Athénée Théâtre Louis Jouvet in Paris, Théâtre Impérial in Compiègne, Les Flâneries de Reims, Radio-France Montpellier, Rencontres Musicales de Calenzana and the cathedrals of Alençon, Clamecy, Le Mans, Sées and Tours (France); Brighton Arts (U.K.); World Academy of Irish Dance and Music in Limerick (Ireland); Salzburg Mozarteum (Austria); Liszt Academy in Budapest (Hungary); Euregio Maas-Rijn Organ Festival (Holland); Szymanowski Festival in Zakopane (Poland and Sicily); Basilica San Clemente in Rome and Orsanmichele Church in Florence (Italy).

He has appeared as guest soloist with many orchestras, including the New Mexico Symphony, San Juan Symphony and the Princeton Chamber Players in the United States, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chihuahua (Mexico), Porto Alegre, Unisinos, Caxias and Camargo Guarnieri symphony orchestras in Brazil, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Bohemia Symphony, Radio-Television Orchestra of Romania, New Opera Di Roma Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Tours. In Paris, Zinck gave the European premiere of Chebaline’s Concertino for violin and strings op. 14/1 with the Orchestre National de la Garde Républicaine.

Based in Milwaukee, Zinck has performed extensively throughout the region. Chicago performances include the Dame Myra Hess Series at the Cultural Center, Rush Hour at St. James Cathedral, Fulton Recital Hall at the University of Chicago, Alliance Française Auditorium and on WFMT “Live from Studio One” with members of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In Wisconsin, he has appeared at the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Jan Sert Auditorium, the Peck School of the Art Recital Hall and All Saints Cathedral (Milwaukee), the Chazen Museum of Art and the Monona Terrace Convention Center (Madison) and at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music (Appleton).

As a recording artist, Bernard Zinck has released the complete works for violin and piano of Karol Szymanowski (Ligia Digital), the “Live from France Album” (Musical Heritage Society) and a recording featuring chamber music works by Burt Levy and Yehuda Yannay (Vienna Masters). One of his performances at the Rush Hour concerts was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and he has been featured on an array of television and radio broadcasts in France and the United States. In 2016 and 2021, he wrote several articles on performing arts injuries that were published by String Magazine and the Strad.

A committed educator, Dr. Zinck was awarded the “Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching” by the Milwaukee Civic Music Association in 2018. He is currently Associate Professor of Violin and String Area Director at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and is also the artistic director and founder of the Lakeside Chamber Music Workshop (Illinois and Loire Valley) and the chamber music festival Musiques et Vignes en Confluence. He has served on the faculty of the Köhln Summer Institute in Montepulciano, the International Lyric Academy of Rome and the Tuscia Operafestival (Italy), Music in the Alps in Courchevel, Académie des Arts in Flaine, Holy Trinity Summer Music camp in Haiti, and the Eastern Music Festival where he served as “Distinguished Teaching Artist” in 2019.

Zinck graduated from the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris (first prizes in violin and chamber music), the Juilliard School as a Fulbright scholar (Bachelor and Master of Music) and Temple University as a Russell Conway Fellow (Doctor of Musical Arts). He wrote his doctoral thesis on the Chevalier de Saint-George, his violin style and Eighteenth-Century Musical aesthetics.

Bernard Zinck plays the Rogeri “Feibelmann”, a Giovanni Battista Rogeri violin, dated 1690 – a purchase made possible with the support of the Bass family.

bernardzinck.com

Accolades

  • Director of Lakeside Chamber Music Workshop
  • Director of Musiques et Vignes en Confuence
  • First prize winner violin and chamber music - Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris
  • Fullbright Scholar (1987)
  • Recipient of Indre-et-Loire Regional Council Award (1987)
  • Yehudi Menuhin Trust Award Winner (1992)
  • Recording Artist for Ligia Digital, The Musical Heritage Society, and Vienna Modern Masters labels.
  • Milwaukee Civic Music Association Award “Excellence in Studio Teaching” (2018)
  • Published articles in Strings and The Strad (2019, 2021)
  • New York Classical Music Society Artist (2023)

Recent Work

Bernard Zinck on YouTube