John Burke

Who is John Burke?

John Joseph Burke is a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer he has written mainly works for chamber ensembles, and his music displays an acute sensitivity to instrumental balance and timbre. In his early career he won the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Composers several times, including in 1978 for both Six Regions for piano and Spectre for tenor instruments, and in 1980 for Firewind for two pianos and Diffusa est gratia for a cappella choir. In 1995 he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his String Quartet. Many of his compositions have been recorded, including Firewind by pianists Bruce Mather and Pierrette LePage, ...ascends at full moon by guitarist Michael Laucke, and À la source d'Hypocrène by the ensemble of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec among others.

Burke earned a Bachelor of Music from McGill University in 1974 where he was a pupil of Bruce Mather and Alcides Lanza. Immediately following he entered the graduate music composition program at the University of Michigan where he obtained a Master of Music in 1976 and later a Doctor of Music in 1983.