On Jan. 29, musicians and music lovers from across Long Island will gather in the beautiful sanctuary of St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church to celebrate Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical heir, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The highlight of the afternoon will be a performance of J.S. Bach’s Gamba Suite No. 2 in D minor by Nina Bernat, winner of the 2022 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. The Islip Bulletin chatted with Bernat about winning the competition and the upcoming concert.

The Islip Bulletin: How did you hear about the Barbash competition?

Bernat: A lot of people from Juilliard, which is where I go to school, were talking about it and applying to it for the past couple of years. It’s sort of been going around, so that is how I heard about it.

IB: Can you walk us through the audition process?

Bernat: First, you apply and send two movements of Bach’s suite online. From that, they select finalists. This year there were three finalists, and we went to Stony Brook for the finals in December. There, we performed the entire suite, from which we sent the two movements from that prescreening. And then they selected the winner from that.

IB:: How are you feeling for the concert coming up on the 29th?

Bernat: I think it will be really cool. There’s some other stuff on the program besides my suite. I’m playing the second suite, which is what I played for the competition.

IB: How did you begin playing the bass?

Bernat: My dad is a bass player, so that’s pretty much how it started. I took lessons from him all the way until I went to Juilliard. I started when I was maybe 7, and I didn’t get serious until high school.

IB: What is your favorite thing about playing Bach?

Bernat: I think my favorite thing about playing Bach, specifically, is that it’s kind of an empty canvas where the musician can really do whatever they want, and there’s endless amounts of interpretive details that you can add. There’s just so much to do with it, and I think compared to other music, Bach is a lot more freedom for the performer.

Bernat was the first-prize winner at the 2019 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition and the 2022 Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition. At the age of 19, she performed as guest Principal of the Israel Philharmonic under András Schiff and Osmo Vänskä. Additionally, Bernat performed Mozart’s Per questa bella mano with the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall as winner of the Juilliard Double Bass Competition. Bernat began studying with her father, former member of the Israel Philharmonic, Mark Bernat. She has continued her studies with Tim Cobb and cellist Astrid Schween at the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. The summer of 2022 included a residency at the Grace Note Farm Chamber Music Festival and Marlboro Music Festival.