**
Maestro Bernard has also been selected as a SEMI-FINALIST in the competition's Orchestral Conducting and Orchestral Programming categories.
The American Prize is a series of non-profit national competitions providing cash awards, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition for the best recorded performances of music by ensembles and individuals each year in the United States. The American Prize Competition 2011 awarded the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony and its music director David Bernard FIRST PRIZE in Orchestral Performance for its performance of Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2.
Since its founding in 1999, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony has built a loyal following, both in New York City and worldwide through its extensive catalog of recordings on iTunes, Naxos/ClassicsOnline, Amazon and Spotify. In 2011 the orchestra toured the People's Republic of China performing in 9 cities including Beijing, Qingdao, Dalian, Chaoyang, Jinzhou, Shenzhen, Shenyang and Xi'an. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony's performances are acclaimed by New York Critics as "Triumphant...exemplary...impressive...polished...exquisite...with a strong sense of style and commitment...with the depth and fervor of the old school European orchestras."
The ensemble regularly features important soloists including Carter Brey (principal cellist, New York Philharmonic), David Chan (concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Jon Manasse (clarinet soloist) and Whoopi Goldberg (Oscar Winning Actor and Entertainer), as well as emerging artists from Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony performs at All Saints Church on the Upper East Side of NYC, with additional performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall.
Through its fundraising efforts, the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony has helped establish a new Scholarship Fund for students at theJuilliard School's Pre-College Division, as well as support The Harmony Program: a New York City organization that provides music lessons to economically disadvantaged children and is modeled after Venezuela's world-famous model of music education, "El Sistema".
