“…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; recorded an audio recording and PBS special live in Prague, to be released August 2010. 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, Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Yaron Traub, Detroit Opera House, Rackham Symphony Choir under Suzanne Acton, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Umbria Music Festival (Italy), TodiMusicFest, Lancaster Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Millennium Park Gala, Kennedy Center, Chicago Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre, Chorus Angelorum and Chicagoland Pops Orchestra,among others.
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; 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 (PBS), Odyssey, CAN-TV; features on WFMT, NPR, 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); and Rodrick Dixon Live in Concert featuring Soprano Alfreda Burke(2008); Halleluiah Broadway! (2010). Ms. Burke and Mr. Dixonrecorded, 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 Halleluiah Broadway!; Mike Teolis Singers, WSU Music & Medicine Symposium, YMP Artist Residency (U of C, Berkeley), Chorus Angelorum Beethoven Mass in C, Too Hot to Handel, Michigan Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre. 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.
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; recorded an audio recording and PBS special live in Prague, to be released August 2010. 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, Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Yaron Traub, Detroit Opera House, Rackham Symphony Choir under Suzanne Acton, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Umbria Music Festival (Italy), TodiMusicFest, Lancaster Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Millennium Park Gala, Kennedy Center, Chicago Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre, Chorus Angelorum and Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, among others.
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; 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 (PBS), Odyssey, CAN-TV; features on WFMT, NPR, 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); and Rodrick Dixon Live in Concert featuring Soprano Alfreda Burke (2008); Halleluiah Broadway! (2010). Ms. Burke and Mr. Dixon 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 Halleluiah Broadway!; Mike Teolis Singers, WSU Music & Medicine Symposium, YMP Artist Residency (U of C, Berkeley), Chorus Angelorum Beethoven Mass in C, Too Hot to Handel, Michigan Opera Theater, Auditorium Theatre. 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.