“…Soprano Alfreda Burke…singing displayed a voice flexible and brilliant in the upper register, dark yet colorful in the middle and lower registers.”
Alfreda Burke’s vocal artistry has been described as “voluptuous, creamy and luxuriant” (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). She has appeared in concert throughout North America and in Europe. Ms. Burke made her Carnegie and Orchestra Hall debuts in Strauss’ Elektra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim. Highlighted performances include the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia under Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus under John Morris Russell, Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Yaron Traub, Detroit Opera House/DSO/Rackham Symphony Choir under Suzanne Acton, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Umbria Music Festival (Italy), TodiMusicFest, Lancaster Festival under Gary Sheldon, Grant Park Music Festival, Millennium Park Gala, Kennedy Center, Chicago Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre, Chorus Angelorum and Chicagoland Pops Orchestra,among others. Ms. Burke filmed 2010 Prague PBS special, Hallelujah Broadway (Mind the Gap Films, Ireland) and recorded it on EMI/Manhattan Records label (Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studios).
Ms. Burke’s oratorio, opera, concert and musical theater engagements include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts broadcast on WFMT-FM; Mozart Requiem, Mass in C Minor, CoronationMass in C Major; Handel’s Messiah; Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Beethoven’s Mass in C; Poulenc Gloria; Mahler 2nd & 8th Symphonies; Strauss’ Elektra; Puccini’s Turandot (Liu); Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915; Menotti’s Amahl & the Night Visitors; Rutter Requiem; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem; Boulez’s Le Visage Nuptial under baton of Pierre Boulez; Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess; Bernstein’s West Side Story; Christianson & Anderson’s Too Hot to Handel; Kern’s Show Boat (Kennedy Center/National Tour, Auditorium Theatre with her son, Dean),directed by Harold Prince. She was featured in CSO’s Symphony Center Inaugural Festival and Radiothon.
Ms. Burke’s work in recordings, music video, television, radio, film and commercials includes: soprano vocalist in Dawa movies (LA) soundtrack featuring Ramsey Lewis, James Mack and members of the CSO; Bobby Lewis release; Celine Dion and R. Kelly’s I’m Your Angel; profiles and broadcasts on CBS, NBC, WGN, WFLD, WCFC, WTTW, KCET, KVCR, WCET, Odyssey, CAN-TV; features on WFMT, NPR, KUSC, WBEZ, WMBI, WGCI, WYCA and WOSU; The Visit, The Visitors, Unconditional Love, U.S. Marshals. Ms. Burke has made guest soloist appearances on the WTTW/Odyssey broadcast of 30 Good Minutes. She has performed the National Anthem for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Fire.
Alfreda Burke received rave reviews for a Community Concerts national tour with Tenor Rodrick Dixon.“Dixon and Burke sang with such deep and knowing pathos that the audience was kept in rapt silence until the end of the set. …Then Burke keened the achingly beautiful ‘Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child’… ” Additional recordings include her solo debut CD, From the Heart (2002);Hallelujah Broadway (2010, EMI/Manhattan Records). Ms. Burkerecorded, performed the Chicago Olympic 2016BidAnthem, “I Will Stand”(Millennium Park Gala,2008) and served on the Arts & Culture Advisory Council.Upcoming 2010-2012 engagements, airings include national/ international PBS Special Hallelujah Broadway; Mike Teolis Singers/Alex North’s Negro Mother; WSU Music & Medicine Symposium; EMI event (NYC); Chorus Angelorum Beethoven Mass in C; American Ireland Fund event; Holders Season Gala (Barbados); Variety the Children’s Charity World Conference Event; YMP Artist Residency (U of C, Berkeley); Tuba Bach Chamber Music Fest; Cincinnati Pops Symphony; Detroit Opera House/Rackham Symphony Choir; Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre; Duo Concert Series. Ms. Burke received Master and Bachelor of Music degrees from Roosevelt University; served as Alumna Ambassador for RU’s 60th Anniversary; and presently serves on the RU CCPA Advisory Board. For classical inquiries, please contact John Miller, Pinnacle Arts Mgmt., Inc.
Ms. Burke’s work in Education includes: Wheaton College Conservatory, Guest Lecturer in Voice (1997-2009); Chicago State University, Voice Faculty (2007-2008); Carl Sandburg HS, Individual Voice Teacher (2004-2007); Chicago Symphony Orchestral Association Community Outreach/South Shore Cultural Center, Voice Instructor (1996-1998); Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Experimental Laboratory Schools (K-8), Evanston-Skokie Dist. 65, General Music & Choral Teacher (1985-1996). Young Musicians Program (YMP) Artist Residency, University of California at Berkeley (Summer 2009-2011).
Biography
“…Soprano Alfreda Burke…singing displayed a voice flexible and brilliant in the upper register, dark yet colorful in the middle and lower registers.”
Alfreda Burke’s vocal artistry has been described as “voluptuous, creamy and luxuriant” (Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune). She has appeared in concert throughout North America and in Europe. Ms. Burke made her Carnegie and Orchestra Hall debuts in Strauss’ Elektra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Daniel Barenboim. Highlighted performances include the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia under Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus under John Morris Russell, Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Yaron Traub, Detroit Opera House/DSO/Rackham Symphony Choir under Suzanne Acton, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Umbria Music Festival (Italy), TodiMusicFest, Lancaster Festival under Gary Sheldon, Grant Park Music Festival, Millennium Park Gala, Kennedy Center, Chicago Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre, Chorus Angelorum and Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, among others. Ms. Burke filmed 2010 Prague PBS special, Hallelujah Broadway (Mind the Gap Films, Ireland) and recorded it on EMI/Manhattan Records label (Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studios).
Ms. Burke’s oratorio, opera, concert and musical theater engagements include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts broadcast on WFMT-FM; Mozart Requiem, Mass in C Minor, Coronation Mass in C Major; Handel’s Messiah; Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Beethoven’s Mass in C; Poulenc Gloria; Mahler 2nd & 8th Symphonies; Strauss’ Elektra; Puccini’s Turandot (Liu); Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915; Menotti’s Amahl & the Night Visitors; Rutter Requiem; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem; Boulez’s Le Visage Nuptial under baton of Pierre Boulez; Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess; Bernstein’s West Side Story; Christianson & Anderson’s Too Hot to Handel; Kern’s Show Boat (Kennedy Center/National Tour, Auditorium Theatre with her son, Dean),directed by Harold Prince. She was featured in CSO’s Symphony Center Inaugural Festival and Radiothon.
Ms. Burke’s work in recordings, music video, television, radio, film and commercials includes: soprano vocalist in Dawa movies (LA) soundtrack featuring Ramsey Lewis, James Mack and members of the CSO; Bobby Lewis release; Celine Dion and R. Kelly’s I’m Your Angel; profiles and broadcasts on CBS, NBC, WGN, WFLD, WCFC, WTTW, KCET, KVCR, WCET, Odyssey, CAN-TV; features on WFMT, NPR, KUSC, WBEZ, WMBI, WGCI, WYCA and WOSU; The Visit, The Visitors, Unconditional Love, U.S. Marshals. Ms. Burke has made guest soloist appearances on the WTTW/Odyssey broadcast of 30 Good Minutes. She has performed the National Anthem for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Fire.
Alfreda Burke received rave reviews for a Community Concerts national tour with Tenor Rodrick Dixon. “Dixon and Burke sang with such deep and knowing pathos that the audience was kept in rapt silence until the end of the set. …Then Burke keened the achingly beautiful ‘Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child’… ” Additional recordings include her solo debut CD, From the Heart (2002); Hallelujah Broadway (2010, EMI/Manhattan Records). Ms. Burke recorded, performed the Chicago Olympic 2016 Bid Anthem, “I Will Stand” (Millennium Park Gala, 2008) and served on the Arts & Culture Advisory Council. Upcoming 2010-2012 engagements, airings include national/ international PBS Special Hallelujah Broadway; Mike Teolis Singers/Alex North’s Negro Mother; WSU Music & Medicine Symposium; EMI event (NYC); Chorus Angelorum Beethoven Mass in C; American Ireland Fund event; Holders Season Gala (Barbados); Variety the Children’s Charity World Conference Event; YMP Artist Residency (U of C, Berkeley); Tuba Bach Chamber Music Fest; Cincinnati Pops Symphony; Detroit Opera House/Rackham Symphony Choir; Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre; Duo Concert Series. Ms. Burke received Master and Bachelor of Music degrees from Roosevelt University; served as Alumna Ambassador for RU’s 60th Anniversary; and presently serves on the RU CCPA Advisory Board. For classical inquiries, please contact John Miller, Pinnacle Arts Mgmt., Inc.
Also visit Soprano Alfreda Burke at http://www.facebook.com/people/Alfreda-Burke/100001464074161
Ms. Burke’s work in Education includes: Wheaton College Conservatory, Guest Lecturer in Voice (1997-2009); Chicago State University, Voice Faculty (2007-2008); Carl Sandburg HS, Individual Voice Teacher (2004-2007); Chicago Symphony Orchestral Association Community Outreach/South Shore Cultural Center, Voice Instructor (1996-1998); Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Experimental Laboratory Schools (K-8), Evanston-Skokie Dist. 65, General Music & Choral Teacher (1985-1996). Young Musicians Program (YMP) Artist Residency, University of California at Berkeley (Summer 2009-2011).