Background & Offerings

A native of France, violinist Bernard Zinck won the 1992 Yehudi Menuhin Trust Award in Paris and since that time has appeared in recitals, soloist with orchestra and as a chamber musician throughout Europe, north and south America and Asia.

Zinck graduated from the Paris Conservatory and, after winning first prizes in violin and chamber music, was admitted as a Fulbright scholar to the Juilliard School where he earned his BM and MM degrees. In 2006, he received a DMA degree from Temple University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Zinck is currently Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music Director at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also is the artistic director and founder of the Lakeside Chamber Music Workshop in Lake Forest (Illinois) and Candes St Martin (France). A committed educator, he was awarded in 2018 the Certificate of Excellence in Studio Teaching by Civic Music Association. 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, and Holly Trinity Summer Music camp in Haiti. He is regularly invited to conduct master classes and residencies throughout the world and recently taught as a Distinguished Teaching Artist at Eastern Music Festival.

His talent and interpretive insight have made him a sought-after soloist 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". The Strad Magazine noted his "round and opulent tone” and his "vibrato bringing moments of sheer ecstasy”, while Fanfare Magazine was impressed by the "singing, sensuous, sumptuous, shimmering” quality of his playing, which the French Figaro summed up in the expression "violon solaire”.

Zinck has performed in venues and festivals such as 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); Oscar Peterson Hall in Montreal (Canada), Weill Hall at Carnegie Recital Hall, the National Gallery and Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Santa Fe Concert Association (U.S.A.), Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro and the International Chamber Music Festival of Paraíba (Brazil), Oji Hall and Shirakawa Hall (Japan).

He has appeared as guest soloist with many orchestras, including the New Mexico Symphony, San Juan Symphony, Princeton Chamber Players, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chihuahua, 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. 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.

Bernard Zinck has recorded for Ligia Digital (Complete works for violin and piano of Karol Szymanowski), the Musical Heritage Society (Live from France) and Vienna Masters (Chamber music works by Burt Levy and Yehuda Yannay). One of his performance at the Rush Hour concerts was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and he has been featured on many television and radio broadcasts in France and the United States.