Born in Vienna, Bernet studied in his native hometown with Hans Swarowsky and Dimitri Mitropoulos, conducted his first concerts at the Vienna Musikverein at the age of 18 and won 1st prize at the International Conducting Competition in Liverpool at the age of 22.
At 23, he conducted Verdi's La traviata at the Spoleto Festival (directed by Luchino Visconti), was conductor at the Vienna Volksoper at 24, conductor at the Vienna State Opera at 26, and General Music Director of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz at 34.
From 1995 to 2000, he was guest principal conductor at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen.
For Bärenreiter Verlag he has translated Bohuslav Martinů's Czech opera Julietta into German together with Aleš Březina [de] and is the author of the book Argumente für den Herrn im Frack.
Was Sie schon immer über das Dirigieren wissen wollten.