Born in Curitiba in 1976, Ricardo Bernardes is a conductor and musicologist and from an early age revealed his passion for early music and, specifically, his desire to publicise the Portuguese-Brazilian musical heritage, which at the time was still unknown to the general public. At the age of 19, he founded the Americantiga Ensemble, of which he has been conductor and artistic director since 1995 and with which he dedicates himself to performing and recording Ibero-American repertoire from the 17th to 19th centuries, with a special emphasis on vocal music. Since then, he has given numerous performances in Brazil, the United States of America and Argentina, as well as in Portugal, where he has lived since 2010, and has recorded a discography that already includes six CDs and a DVD, recording basic works from the 18th century Luso-Brazilian repertoire, with authors such as José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830), André da Silva Gomes (1752-1844), João de Sousa Carvalho (1745-1798), Marcos Portugal (1762-1830), António Leal Moreira (1758-1819). In São Paulo, in 2006, he performed the Brazilian premiere of Requiem to the Memory of Camões, by João Domingos Bomtempo (1771 - 1842), a fundamental work from the beginnings of Portuguese musical romanticism.

Based in Portugal since 2010, his activities include the modern premiere of the opera "Basculho de Chaminé", by Marcos Portugal, with the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, at the São Carlos Theatre in Lisbon, his participation in the direction of the music-theatre shows in the São Roque Music Seasons and the realisation of the concert series Memórias e Caminhos de Mateus, in 2016 and 2017, promoted by the Casa de Mateus Foundation in Vila Real.

He is currently Artistic Director of the "Encontros Internacionais de Música da Casa de Mateus" and of the Baroque Orchestra of Mateus, with which he premiered the opera 'As Damas Trocadas' by Marcos Portugal in 2023, in a co-production between the Casa de Mateus Foundation and the Vila Real Theatre. He is the promoter and Artistic Director of the "Lisbon Early Music Festival".

In addition to his artistic activity, Ricardo Bernardes completed a doctorate in Musicology at the University of Texas at Austin, a second doctorate on the Music for the acclamation of Queen Maria I in 1778, at the New University of Lisbon, as well as a post-doctorate at the New University of Lisbon. He was editor of the collection "Music in Brazil - 18th and 19th centuries", in 6 volumes and 2,500 pages, promoted by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, and of the magazine "Textos do Brasil", in the issue dedicated to "Brazilian Classical Music" and edited by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.