John Burge

Biography

Sample Works

John Burge (b. 1961, in Dryden, Ontario) holds degrees in Composition and Theory from the University of Toronto (B.Mus. and M.Mus.) and the University of British Columbia (D.M.A.) His composition professors included John Beckwith, Walter Buczynski, Stephen Chatman, John Hawkins and Derek Holman. He obtained his Associate Diploma of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano Performance while still in high school and continued his piano studies with Andrew Markov in Toronto. Since 1987 he has been teaching at the School of Music, Queen's University, where he holds the position of Full Professor.

Burge is known particularly for his choral music, much of it involving orchestral accompaniment. Many of these works have been published by the publishing firms: Boosey and Hawkes, Jaymar Music and Gordon V. Thompson. His choral music has been performed by many of North America's and Europe's finest choir, including, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Toronto Children's Chorus, the St. Lawrence Chorale of Montreal, the Cantata Singers of both Ottawa and Vancouver, the St. Louis Symphony Children's Chorus, the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus of Chicago and the BBC Singers. Because Burge repeatedly draws upon the poetry of Canadian writers for his texts, there is often a strong sense of the Canadian landscape and identity discernible in these works. Some of his favourite poets include Dorothy Livesay, Margaret Avison, Dennis Lee, Stephen Heighton and Eugene McNamara.

Over the past decade Burge has developed a productive relationship with the Kingston Symphony and their Musical Director, Glen Fast. Together they have commissioned and premiered the following works: a Piano Concerto, a Trumpet Concerto, Symphony No. 1, Snowdrift, The Birds Beyond (for narrator and chamber orchestra) and That We May Not Lose Loss (for solo soprano, choir and orchestra). His two orchestral tone poems, Snowdrift and Rocky Mountain Overture, have been performed by many of Canada's orchestras. Snowdrift was even performed in Russia in December of 2002. Burge has also been repeatedly commissioned by The Thirteen Strings of Ottawa who have in the past premiered the following works: Upper Canada Fiddle Suite, Sinfonia Antiqua, One Sail (for solo and strings) and Forgotten Dreams (for solo flute and strings).

In addition to numerous works for solo piano, Burge's instrumental and ensemble works often involve keyboard accompaniment. He has also written a number of works for solo organ and was commissioned in 2002 to write two works for the organ and other instruments: The Blues of a Chagall Window (for alto saxophone and organ) and Organ Concertino (for woodwind quintet and organ).

Burge enjoys working with student musicians and addition to teaching at Queen's University, Burge regularly adjudicates piano and composition classes at Community Music Festivals across Canada. He has also been the Composer-In-Residence with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada during their summer rehearsals in Kingston since 2001. A passionate advocate for Canadian music, he has been a member of the Executive Council of the Canadian League of Composers since 1993, serving as the CLC President since 1998.

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