Bio Buenos Aires-born Bernardo Monk began studying and playing music in 1990. He was fourteen years old. Everyone in his immediate family was a musician, so he too followed the family path. His first saxophone instructors were Eduardo De Luca, Victor Skorupski and Carlos Lastra. Soon the enthusiastic young artist Bernardo Monk was becoming a skilled performer on soprano and alto saxophones.
By 2000, Bernardo had graduated from the Contemporary Music School in Buenos Aires. Then he won an International Scholarship to study at the world famous Berklee College of Music, in Boston where he expanded his instrumental palette to include tenor and baritone saxes, flute and clarinet.
At Berklee he continued to stand out, winning two more awards: the prestigious Charlie Parker Scholarship and the Berklee Woodwinds Department Achievement Award. Having studied intensively under the guidance of such top jazz players and educators as Joe Lovano, Hal Crook, Charlie Banacos, Ed Tomassi, George Garzone, and Phil Wilson, Monk graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2003 with a Major in Jazz Performance.
During his time in the U.S., Monk also had the opportunity to perform, tour and/or record with such excellent groups as bassist Oscar Stagnaro's Peru Mestizo, The Tito Puente, Jr. Orchestra, Sol y Canto, Puerto Rican percussionist Eguie Castrillo's Latin Big Band and The Ryles Jazz Orchestra, Sofia Rei as well as ensembles led by Panamanian vocalist Patricia Elena Vlieg Quintero, Columbian singer/songwriter Marta Gomez, and Argentinean pianist/composer Pablo Ablanedo.
In 2004, Bernardo and Argentine pianist Octavio Brunetti got the first prize at the "International Tango Competition" in New York in the duo category.
He performed and recorded with such prestigious tango musicians as Néstor Marconi, Daniel Binelli, and Horacio Molina.
His discography as a soloist includes Cambio de frente (2011), Ponele la firma (2006) and Estación Buenos Aires (2004). These albums capture the full essence of his unique ability to unite the musical motifs of tango and jazz.
In 2008, after moving back to Argentina, Bernardo collaborated with celebrated Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov recording the sound track for the movie Tetro directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Monk is the author of the book The saxophone in tango (2010), the first method devoted to the inclusion of the saxophone in Argentine Tango.
He currently performs with other groups such as Ensamble Real Book Argentina, Mariano Otero Nonet, Sebastián Monk, etc. These projects, focused in other musical genres mean a huge source of inspiration for Bernardo's music.
In Buenos Aires, he teaches tango-saxophone at the Popular Music School in Avellaneda (EMPA), tango ensemble at the National Institute of Art (IUNA) and saxophone and jazz ensemble at the CAEMSA Institute.

Discography

As a soloist:

Cambio de frente, 2011
"El saxofón en el tango" - 8 estudios de tango para saxofón, 2010
Ponele la firma, 2006
Estación Buenos Aires, 2004

With other artists:

Ensamble Real Book Argentina, 2011
Sebastián Monk, Nuevas canciones con nombre de niño, 2011
Dany Iannarelli, Notticaldo Jazz in Buenos Aires, 2011
Santiago Hernandez Tramando algo, 2010.
Jorge Retamoza Vientos de tango, PAI 2010
Mariano Otero Noneto Desarreglos, Sony Music 2009
Iván Noble Dicho y hecho, Sony Music 2009.
Gabriel Rivano Tangos nuevos 2009, Luna y misterio 2009
Osvaldo Golijov Tetro, Deutsche Grommophon, 2008
Sebastián Monk Prueba y error, 2008
Sol y Canto Cada día un regalo, 2008
Sandra Arán Intimately, 2008
Patricia Vlieg Origen, 2005
Patricia Vlieg Tus Promesas, 2002
Tristan Park Walking in the Blue, 2002
Mike McAdam Laughing in the dark, 2002
Berklee Studio Production Projects 2002
Orquesta El Salvador 2001
Mariano Otero A ciegas, 2000
Lapo Gessaghi Los de así, 2000
Sebastian Monk Nuevas canciones, 1999

Publications:

"The saxophone in tango", first method for the inclusion of the saxophone in our urban music. (Buenos Aires 2010).