Alain Bernheim
Encyclopedia
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France, lives in Montreux
Montreux
Montreux is a municipality in the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.It is located on Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps and has a population, , of and nearly 90,000 in the agglomeration.- History :...
, Switzerland. At the age of twelve he was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the infamous concentration camp Drancy, at fifteen he was chosen to represent the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly at the Concours Général of philosophy. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in Paris, was the first French music student to receive a Fulbright scholarship which allowed him to study further at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, won second Prize together with Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
at the international piano contest in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
in 1953 and gave some 2,000 concerts until 1980. Then he stopped his musical career for health reasons and turned to Masonic research.
In 1986 and 1993 he was awarded the Norman Spencer Award by the English premier Lodge of Research Quatuor Coronati Lodge
Quatuor Coronati Lodge
Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 is a Masonic lodge in London dedicated to Masonic research. Founded in 1886, the lodge meets at Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street....
N° 2076, 1997 the Certificate of Literature by the Philalethes Society
Philalethes Society
The Philalethes Society is a Masonic research society based in North America. The society was founded on October 1, 1928, by a group of Masonic authors led by Cyrus Field Willard. Willard was a former reporter for the Boston Globe and the founder of a utopian commune on Puget Sound...
(USA), 2001 the Albert Gallatin Mackey Scholar Award by the Scottish Rite Research Society (Washington, D.C.) which elected him a Fellow, and 2007 was selected a member of the Society of Blue Friars.
A Freemason since 1963, he belongs to the Regular Grand Loge of Belgium and to the Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina. He was awarded the 33° by the Supreme Council of the United States (Southern Jurisdiction), elected a Chapter Knight of the Great Priory of Belgium and is a member of the Royal Order of Scotland
Royal Order of Scotland
The Royal Order of Scotland is an honor society linked to Freemasonry. Membership is an honour extended to Freemasons by invitation.-Organization:...
. He is also the first French Freemason who was elected a full member of Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076 (United Grand Lodge of England).
He authored Les Débuts de la Franc-Maçonnerie à Genève et en Suisse (Slatkine 1994), many entries of the Encyclopédie de la Franc-Maçonnerie (Pochotèque 2000), Réalité Maçonnique (Alpina Research Group, Lausanne 2007) and some 150 papers issued in French, English and German masonic magazines.
His book, Une certaine idée de la franc-maçonnerie, came out September 2008 by Dervy, Paris. The next one, Le rite en 33 grades - De Frederick Dalcho à Charles Riandey, just appeared in September 2011 also by Dervy.