Alexander Bernstein, a San Francisco native, began piano lessons at age seven, later moving to Walla Walla, Washington, where he studied for nine years. Bernstein received a bachelor’s degree in music from Harvard University in May 2010 where he studied privately with both Patricia Zander and Stephen Drury of the New England Conservatory. He also completed a master’s degree in piano performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin in 2012. He completed his Artist Diploma at Shenandoah Conservatory under the tutelage of John O’Conor in 2016.

After making his symphonic debut in 1999, Bernstein has performed concerti with orchestras in the United States and Europe, most recently including performances of Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in Ireland and the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in Virginia. He has given solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the U.K., Germany, Italy and Romania.

Bernstein is an avid devotee of new music, studying and premiering works of living composers as well as Berio, Ligeti, Ives and Cage. In September 2015 he recorded a solo CD of works by the Irish composer Ryan Molloy.

Bernstein has had much success in competitions, recently winning second prize and the RTE Lyric Fm Special Prize in the 2015 Dublin International Piano Competition, third prize in the 2015 Verona International Piano Competition, and third prize in the 2015 Gian Battista Viotti International Piano Competition. He also received first prize in the 2011 Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year Competition.