Violinist David Bernat is recognized for his deeply personal musical voice and his ability to connect with diverse audiences. He leads a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, and artistic director. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Brookline Symphony, Fort Dodge Symphony, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and China. A dedicated chamber musician, he is a member of the Formosa Quartet, ensemble-in-residence at the University of Houston Moores School of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

Recent engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood Music Center with the New Fromm Players, the Marlboro Music Festival, the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and Red Barn Chamber Music in Iowa City, as well as appearances on BBC Radio 3's In Tune and WQXR's The Greene Space.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Bernat has collaborated closely with distinguished composers including Thomas Adès, John Adams, John Harbison, Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lerdahl, and George Walker. Recent projects include the commissioning of Stretched (2022) for mixed quintet by Hannah Ishizaki and the premiere of Lullaby (2023) by Yike Zhang.
Bernat is the founder and Artistic Director of the Grace Note Farm Music Festival in Rhode Island. He performs on a violin made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz in 1984. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, he is currently a C. V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School.

American double bassist Nina Bernat, acclaimed for her interpretive maturity, expressive depth, and technical clarity, has established a distinctive career as a soloist, expanding the visibility and expressive range of her instrument on the international stage. She was described by the Star Tribune as a “standout” following her concerto debut with the Minnesota Orchestra, which the review praised as “exhilarating, lovely and lyrical… technically precise and impressively emotive.”

In 2023, Bernat received both the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Elmaleh Competition. Her additional honors include top prizes at the Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition, the Juilliard Double Bass Competition, and the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition.

She has presented New York recital debuts at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, and has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra and Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra.

Active across solo, orchestral, and chamber music spheres, Bernat has performed as guest principal bassist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic, working with artists and conductors including András Schiff and Osmo Vänskä. She is a member of the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared at festivals including Marlboro Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Music@Menlo, and Chamber Music Northwest.

Bernat performs on an instrument attributed to Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, passed down from her father, Mark Bernat. She currently serves on the faculty of Stony Brook University.

Born in Irkutsk, Russia, in 1981, Ilya Rashkovskiy began studying piano at the age of five and made his orchestral debut with the Irkutsk Chamber Orchestra at the age of eight. He studied at the Novosibirsk Special School of Music with Mary Lebenzon from 1993 to 2000, followed by studies with Vladimir Krainev at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover from 2000 to 2009. He later continued his training at the École Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot.

Rashkovskiy is a laureate of numerous prestigious international competitions, including the International Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (2001), the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (2007), the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv (2011), and the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2012).

An internationally acclaimed recitalist and concerto soloist, Rashkovskiy has toured extensively throughout Japan, Germany, France, Ukraine, and the United States, earning particular praise for his interpretations of Chopin and Prokofiev. He has appeared with orchestras including the Kyiv National Philharmonic, the Gulbenkian Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.

His recordings include Tchaikovsky's The Seasons and Piano Sonata on the Naxos label, as well as works by Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, and Scriabin released by Alpha Omega Music (Hong Kong).

A dedicated educator, Rashkovskiy has presented master classes in Hong Kong, New Zealand, and France. He currently serves as Professor of Piano at the College of Music of Sungshin Women's University in Seoul.