Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Burke
Hi Samantha, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Hello my name is Samantha Burke and I am an Opera Singer, Violinist, adoptive co-parent to 3
wonderful kids, the first daughter of immigrant parents, and the proud General Director of Burke
Music Academy in Atlanta, GA.
As a child, I dreamed of becoming a concert violinist. At the age of 11 I fell in love with Opera, and began singing and touring with The Atlanta Young Singers. I was passionate and tenacious about music from a young age, but my technical skills never matched my musical potential. In high school, I realized that to get into the conservatories I aspired to, I needed consistent private lessons to improve my technique, despite my involvement in various musical organizations. However, my single mother, raising my sister and me, couldn’t afford to keep me in lessons for more than a few months at a time due to the financial strain. Thanks to generous donors, a hard-working mother, and countless hours of practice, I achieved my dream.
In college, I felt compelled to share with a close mentor my dream of creating a school that could offer lesson scholarships to talented students from low-income households. She gently called it ambitious but delusional. I held onto this dream for many years while attending Bard College, later Conservatory at Brooklyn College, and working as a private music teacher for over a decade.
I have been blessed to perform on some of the world’s greatest stages with orchestras like The American Symphony and New York Philharmonic to name a few, premier new American operas, and be an avid recitalist across the US.
In 2020, Burke Music Academy (BMA) was founded to bridge the gap between highly talented students and the need for quality music education tailored to the realities of being a 21st-century musician. BMA’s small team of highly accomplished teachers and guest artists serves a niche of students who are highly motivated and focused on performing at the highest levels through our conservatory style rigor and curriculum.
Our mission is to holistically foster emerging artists. Although we accept students as young as 2 years old to adults, the majority of our students in-person in Atlanta and virtually across the US and internationally are pre-professional musicians either in young students ages 6-19, and young adults who are specifically interested in performing at the highest musical levels.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
So here is the problem:
Major conservatories and small music schools alike do not understand nor do they always speak to the changing tide of what it means to be a well-rounded musician in 2024. Gone are the days when it was enough for a musician to be wholly confident and secure in a single genre of music. it is not realistic nor is it human. We at Burke Music Academy truly believe that as dynamic creative beings, we should have all of the tools and technical capabilities to bridge the gap between students doing canonic works and doing crossover genres of music equally well.
This huge undertaking has naturally had many challenges. When seeking to disrupt the status quo of traditional music education, it is sometimes difficult to bring up new concepts to old institutions especially when seeking their financial aid and support.
The major conservatories focus on producing and reproducing canonic works in as imaginative ways as possible, but often miss the mark for contemporary audiences. Smaller schools of music are simply trying to inspire young students to ignite the spark of musicality within, while monopolized large companies disguised as schools of music aim is to make the most money out of parents who are trying to bridge the gap between their child’s musical interests, and the necessity for individualized instruction that goes beyond what the students can do in their chorus, band, or orchestra class.
Much of our funding for our programs and our lessons scholarship fund have been crowd-sourced, but we aim to do so much more. Our incredible team and students are producing and performing pop-up concerts in Atlanta and virtually inspired by NPR’s tiny desk, and are working on our second album.
We have built relationships with local schools and foundations to help students build a strong technical foundation to learn and perform music from Bach to Beyonce with the same reverence and gravitas.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve always felt a sense of a higher calling. As a young child, before I had the right verbiage to express the calling God had on my life to others, I knew deep inside that I was meant to walk out something new…to develop something new in this world. I’ve worked for numerous companies and learned what works and what does not. The overarching thing that I can say that is missing from well-meaning conservatories, and small music schools alike is twofold: the commitment for meeting people where they’re at (talent-wise, their interests, and their natural temperament) and showing them how to achieve greater practically.
It is about giving students the tools to actually pull the best out of them for the sake of the music that they’re trying to create AND speak to their flawed humanity. It is important to have the conversations of how to deal with the mental fortitude it takes to be a musician. At BMA, we do that year round and open up that discussion to the public through our Performance Anxiety and Alexander Technique workshop, our Audition Prep workshop, and De-mystifing artist discussions with industry leading professionals to discuss how to mentally, emotionally, and physically hold the weight of being a musician in 2024 from the earliest learning stages to a professional career stage.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is simple.: I define success as finding joy in whatever I am doing and making a positive impact in another person’s life. My life’s motto is to serve God, be a good mom, sing well, and stay open.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://burkemusicacademy.com
- Instagram: @burkemusicacademy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burkemusicacademy/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@burkemusicacademy
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/burke-music-academy-atlanta
Image Credits
210creations
BlackFrsot Productions
ArtsBridge Atlanta
Reserved and Radiant Photos
