In 1993, Gilles Bernard wins the World Music Foundation award as a pianist and composer during the gala of the Excellence in Culture Awards. The following year, he tours Canada’s jazz festivals with the Gilles Bernard Repertory Orchestra, his 10-musician ensemble. He records seven albums under his own name, like Le chapeau de ma Sœur (My Sister’s Hat), nominated at the Opus Awards for best jazz album of 2001, his Mot (WORD) album, classified as one of the 10 best albums of 1999 in the Top Ten special section of the Le Soleil newspaper of 1999 and his album Fréquence 119 ranked among the 5 best jazz albums of the year 2018 on the site sortiesJAZZnights.com by Christophe Rodriguez columnist at the Journal de Montreal. Art TV and TV5 broadcast a complete concert by his quartet recorded at the Forget domain in 2001. He plays at the New Morning in Paris with the Dadjé group composed of Senegal and Quebec musicians, in Dakar with the National Senegal Orchestra, and in Guadeloupe with the Kafé Ka Lévé group. In March of 1999, Gilles Bernard’s music is the subject of a particular recognition though a series of events celebrating the opening to the House of Quebec in Barcelona. The Catalans are invited to appreciate the pianist’s talent during an activity The Quebec to Listen to, March 15 to 28, 1999 aimed to promote the music of Quebec artists selected for the quality of their work. In 2004, he worked on the realization of his own recording studio Studio de L'Ours in Quebec City. Since then, he has recorded five albums in his name and several others independent productions.
Throughout his career, he collaborates with many musicians amongst the most renowned of the Quebec jazz community, and he accompanies world-famous jazz musicians such as John Zorn (1985) and famous Hungarian gypsy violinist, Elek Bacsik (1991). In 1996, he spends four months in Italy, especially in Milan, where he performs in many jazz venues with different musicians. In 2002, he performs at the St-Pierre and Miquelon Cultural Center. Between 2001 and 2004, he writes music for an octet, composed of a string quartet and of a jazz quartet, that is performed four times in two years at the Théâtre du Petit Champlain and recorded twice by Radio Canada FM. From 2007 to 2013, Gilles Bernard performs with his trio three weeks out of four in the renowned jazz bar Le Sainte-Angèle, located in the Old Quebec. In 2010, he participates to the Lamentin Jazz Festival in Martinique with the saxophonist Maurice Bouchard Sextet. In 2012, he participates to the Great Quebeckers of Jazz concert presented at the Capitole de Québec with his quartet and as an accompanist for singer Ranee Lee. In 2014, Gilles Bernard presents his new quartet in a double concert with Ellis Marsalis Quartet at the Quebec City International Jazz Festival. In 2016, he presents his album 4 Rue Durocher in concert at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and in the summer of 2018 he launches his new album Fréquence 119 in concert at the Théâtre Petit-Champlain as part of the Festival d'summer of Quebec and at the Dièse Onze in Montréal.