Jay Bernfeld
is increasingly admired as a performer of great expressivity on the viola da gamba. He is widely acclaimed as a soloist and continuo player, and for his performances of ornamental and improvisatory styles. Award winning releases of Pièces des Violes by Antoine Forqueray and François Couperin as well as the Folies d’Espagne of Marin Marais and a premiere recording of works by Johannn Schenk have received extravagant praise in the international press.

As a teenager Jay Bernfeld witnessed hundreds of live performances of the great singers, foremost among them Renata Tebaldi. It is largely due to his appreciation of the dramatic voice that he has developed a new perspective on the performance of earlier repertoires. He has served as assistant conductor to maestro David Stern for productions of Mozart”s Nozze di Figaro and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the festival d’Aix-en-Provence and at the Opéra de Rouen. With Skip Sempe and the Capriccio Stravagante, of which he is a founding member, he has directed la Pellegrina and Gagliano’s Dafne at Vicenza’s Teatro Olimpico; his production of Monteverdi’s Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria was chosen to inaugurate the Dimitri Mitropulos Concert Hall at the Athens Music Palace.

Devoted to the privileged association of voices and viols the group Fuoco e Cenere, which Mr. Bernfeld directs, has appeared at major festivals in Europe, Israel, and the Americas.

Fuoco E Cenere
Now in its fifteenth year, Fuoco E Cenere has established itself as an arena for sensational musical adventures. The ensemble has ever since retained an often remarked daring in its choice of repertoire. Eager to preserve the unique freshness of the concert-going experience Fuoco E Cenere has devised quite a number of original entertainments, including recent intriguing mixes of music and puppetry, or music and haute cuisine.

Story telling through song and translating emotions and dreams into music are the missions we have readily accepted. In our musical laboratory we eagerly juxtapose, metamorphose outstanding works, permitting the listener to view these gems of a bygone era in a new light, frequently imagining entertainments that delight both young and old, the novice and the connoisseur.

Spurred on by director Jay Bernfeld’s love of song, Fuoco E Cenere has been pleased to collaborate with many of today’s finest voices as well as the stars of tomorrow. The ensemble is proud to have presented several forgotten masterpieces to an appreciative public. Fuoco E Cenere is 10 recording covering 1000 years of music.

Its first recording, Fantasy in Blue - Purcell meets Gershwin, was hailed by Le Monde as a « veritable knock-out ». The ensemble’s recording of Marco da Gagliano’s little known masterpiece La Dafne was awarded the prestigious Orphée d’Or by the Académie du Disque Lyrique, and unanimously lauded by international critics. Our most recent recording, Judith & Esther, divine destinies, recounts the universal stories of two biblical super-women, who with force and tenderness vanquished oppression and injustice.