Jacinto Gimbernard was a Dominican composer and musician born in Santo Domingo in 1931 whose career was defined by a commitment to classical and academic music at a time when those traditions required active cultivation in the Dominican Republic. Working within the European classical tradition while maintaining a distinctly Caribbean identity, Gimbernard contributed compositions and musical scholarship that enriched the country's formal music culture.

He was associated with academic institutions and helped support the infrastructure of serious musical study in the Dominican Republic across several decades. His life spanned nearly nine decades — he passed away in 2017 — during which time he witnessed extraordinary transformations in both Dominican society and its musical life. Gimbernard's dedication to classical and academic composition placed him among a small but vital cohort of Dominican artists who ensured that Western art music traditions found genuine root in Caribbean soil.