Now a violist, France Bernier first began studying the violin at the age of six in Dijon, under Anne Mercier and Thierry Juffard. In 2017, she took up the viola in Pascal Robault’s class and, the following year, was accepted into Claire Merlet’s class in Rueil-Malmaison. Since 2021, she has been studying at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in Frédéric Kirch’s class, where she is completing her Bachelor’s degree in viola. In 2024, she will spend her first year of her Master’s degree on an exchange programme at the Norges Musikkhøgskole in Oslo in Lars Anders Tomter’s class. She will graduate with a Master’s degree specialising in Concert Performance next June and will continue her training as part of the Diploma of Advanced Studies programme with the OSR, in partnership with the HEM in Geneva.
She has benefited, amongst others, from the guidance of Tabea Zimmermann, Lise Berthaud, David Gaillard, Alexander Zemtsov and Virginie Robillard.
France is developing her chamber music practice through various ensembles ranging from sonatas to octets. She studies with members of the Voce Quartet, the Manfred Quartet, the Sine Nomine Quartet, Raphaël Merlin, Michel Moraguès and Vincent Coq. Chamber music concerts have enabled her to engage with a variety of audiences (hospitals, prisons, care homes, young audiences, etc.).
She is honing her orchestral skills with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes (OFJ) as principal viola for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, is a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) for the 2024 season, and is part of the Young Talents programme at the 2025 Pablo Casals Festival. She has also had the opportunity to perform with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. She has performed under the baton of Klaus Mäkelä, Mikko Franck, Pierre Bleuse, Léo Warynski, Michael Schønwandt, Kriistina Poska, Julien Chauvin and Eva Ollikainen, providing her with opportunities to accompany leading internationally renowned soloists.