Amy Burton

Versatile soprano Amy Burton has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, at the White House, and with major opera companies and orchestras throughout the U.S., Europe, U.K., Japan, and Israel as well as on recital and cabaret stages from New York to Barcelona. A frequent interpreter of 20th- and 21st-century music, she has premiered pieces by John Musto, Paul Moravec, Lee Hoiby, John Harbison, Richard Festinger, and Richard Danielpour, to name a few. Also specializing in French vocal music of the 1920s and ’30s, Burton has performed both melodies and chansons populaires throughout the U.S. and Europe, and recorded a critically acclaimed album with conductor Yves Abel, Souvenir de Printemps.

Recent projects include soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2; performances at Ravinia, Boston, and Los Angeles of Late Night With Leonard Bernstein (with Jamie Bernstein and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin); cabaret appearances at the Café Sabarsky; Double Date with William Bolcom and Joan Morris in New York; Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man with the Midland-Odessa Symphony; and Debussy songs with Lyricfest in Philadelphia (Laura Ward, piano).

Burton sang in the modern premiere of Cole Porter’s rediscovered 1928 musical The Ambassador Revue (La Revue des Ambassadeurs) in Paris and New York, the New York premiere of John Musto’s Scottish Songs, and the world premiere of Musto’s Sarah’s Song for the AIDS Quilt Songbook and Summer Stars for the Opera America Songbook and recording. Burton sang Winnie in the world premiere of Michael Dellaira’s opera The Secret Agent and can be heard on the recording for SoundMirror. Her recent recording for Bridge Records is Got a Little Rhythm, a collection of songs and duets from the Great American Songbook (with Musto and baritone Patrick Mason). She has recorded for Bridge, Naxos, Harbinger, Albany, Angel/EMI, and CRI.

A sought-after teacher, Burton is also professor of voice at the Mannes College of Music and the CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral program and is on the faculty of SongFest at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. She has taught French vocal literature at Manhattan School of Music and maintains a private voice studio in New York City. She has given master classes and residencies throughout the U.S. and in Paris.

Burton’s awards include major prizes from the Gerda Lissner, George London, and Sullivan Foundations. She was the silver medalist in the 1995 Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition. New York City Opera, where she was a leading soprano for 12 seasons, honored her with the Christopher Keene award, the Kolosvar award, and the 2005 Diva award. She is a member of the Glimmerglass Opera Artist Advisory Board, New York Festival of Song’s Artist Council, and Opera America, which honored her with its first Artist Advocate award, in 2006.