Bridget Kinneary enjoys a career as an orchestral conductor, music director, educator, violist, and collaborative artist.

Presently, Bridget is based in Berlin and works as head of music at Berlin Cosmopolitan School. Last season (2023-24), Bridget served as assistant conductor at the Oratorio Society of Queens, head conductor of the Mannes Prep Chamber Orchestra in New York City and co-lecturer at the University of Potsdam, Germany, where she leads seminars on instrumental group pedagogy. A significant component of Bridget’s passion as a conductor is advocating for ensemble-based music education. After winning a Fulbright grant to Germany in 2016 to pursue research in music education, she held positions as music director and site coordinator for Mit Mach Musik e.V, an El-Sistema-inspired initiative in Berlin, Germany from 2016-2022. She is the recipient of the 2018 Jürgen Mulert award for mutual understanding for her dedicated work with youth ensembles in Berlin.

Collecting global perspectives on music teaching and learning is important to Bridget. Consequently, she appeared as a guest conductor for the Harare Youth Orchestra in Zimbabwe, the National Youth Orchestra of Belize, El Sistema Sweden in Gothenburg, and the Köpenick Bläsorchester near Berlin. She participated in conducting masterclasses with Kristjan Järvi in Tartu, Estonia, and Sasha Mälakiä in Helsinki, Finland.

As a violist, Bridget has a particular interest in contemporary works and cross-disciplinary projects. She has premiered works for viola at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, the Eastman School of Music, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In 2019, she collaborated with young composers in the OPUS 1 project of the Berlin Philharmonic Education Department and performed in the “Kurt Murks Trash Robot” family concert series alongside members of the Berlin Philharmonic. She maintains a small private studio of motivated students of all ages.

Festival appearances have included viola playing at the Texas Music Festival and score reading/musical cue directing for the video broadcast crew at the Sun Valley Music Festival, where she also holds administrative experience.