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Trumpet virtuoso and conductor Stephen Burns is the Artistic Director of the Fulcrum  Point New Music Project in Chicago. He has been acclaimed on four continents for his consistently and widely varied performances encompassing recitals, orchestral appearances, chamber ensemble engagements, and innovative multi-media presentations involving video, dance theatre, and sculpture. He began his studies at the age of ten and made his professional debut at the age of 14 performing Handel Aria “Let the Bright Seraphim” with coloratura soprano Elizabeth Phinney. In 1988 he won First Prize at the second Maurice Andre International Competition for Trumpet in France, which brought him numerous international engagements, including a Paris recital, national television appearances and tours of Europe, Asia and the United States.

Mr. Burns has performed in the major concert halls of New York, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Houston, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and Venice. He has been a guest at the White House and has appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His European tours have taken him to Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland for guest appearances with orchestras, as well as recitals and performances on radio and television. On tour in the Far East he won rave reviews, which singled out his remarkable tone, musicianship, and technical facility. In recent seasons he has appeared with many leading international orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony under Neeme Jarvi, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Iona Brown, The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, The Arturo Toscanini Orchestra of Parma, the Japan National Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, and a United States tour with the Leipzig Kammerorkester. His recital programs often feature his own transcriptions of Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the latter scored for trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, bass trumpet, and piano.

In 1998 Stephen Burns was invited to create innovative new music programs as the Artist in Residence with Performing Arts Chicago. He is the Artistic Director of the Fulcrum  Point New Music Project and the American Concerto Orchestra whose mission it is to champion classical music influenced and inspired by Pop culture, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Latin, Folk, Klezmer, World Music, literature, film, art, dance, and theatre.

A conducting student of Jorma Panula and Pinchas Zukerman, Mr. Burns often appears as both soloist and conductor with orchestras performing repertoire ranging from the Second Brandenburg Concerto and Haydn’s Eb major concerto to works by Copland, Shostakovitch and André Jolivet. He has performed this dual role with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Orquesta, the Orquesta da Camera del Tachira, the Sea Cliff Chamber Orchestra, and the American Concerto Orchestra.

He has given numerous premiers by American composers (Rorem, David Stock, Gunther Schuller, Robert Rodriguez, Philip Glass) as well as composers of international renown (Stockhausen, Franck Amsallem, Somei Satoh, Sallinen). Committed to new music, Mr. Burns has written for trumpet, electronic music, chamber music and symphony orchestra. His composition “Reflections,” a work created in collaboration with choreographer Ruby Shang, was performed around the Henry Moore reflecting pool at Lincoln Center. In 1993 he composed and performed the Inaugural Fanfare for the Kuhmon Talon Concert Hall and his most recent composition, “Variations in America” was premiered in Hyannis, MA as part if their Independence Day celebration. He is currently composing Phalanx, a multi-media work based upon American military musical themes.

Stephen Burns is a frequent guest artist at many prestigious summer festivals including Santa Fe, Kuhmo, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Spoleto, Caramoor, Lieksa, Grand Canyon, Moab, Estate Musicale St. Cecilia, and Divonne les Bains. His recordings include Telemann for Trumpet, with the American Concerto Orchestra, on Dorian, The Complete Sonatas for Brass by Paul Hindemith on Helicon, The Complete Brandenburg Concerti with Helmuth Rilling on Haenssler Classics, and Trumpet Voluntary on ASV records. He has also recorded for Kleos, Musical Heritage Society, Delos, Classical Masters, Essay and Grammavision.

Originally from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, Stephen Burns studied under Armando Ghitalla, Gerard Schwarz, Pierre Thibaud, and Arnold Jacobs at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Julliard School (BM/MM 1981-82), as well as in Paris and Chicago for post-graduate studies. He has won many prestigious awards including the 1981 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, 1982 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 1983 National Endowment for the Arts Recitalist Grant, the Naumburg Scholarship at Juilliard, “Outstanding Brass Player” at Tanglewood and the aforementioned 1988 Maurice Andre Concour International de Paris. Sought after internationally for master classes, Mr. Burns is a former tenured Professor of Music at Indiana University and Visiting Lecturer at the Arturo Toscanini Foundation Corso MYTHOS in Bologna, Italy. He presently resides in Chicago with his wife, school psychologist, Kate Neisser and their twin sons Edward and Isaac. Stephen Burns is a Yamaha performing artist.

 

Stephen Burns Discography



Sophia Wong Boccio brings to Fulcrum Point New Music Project a wealth of international business expertise and six years of experience as managing director of Cinema/Chicago, the not-for-profit presenter of Chicago International Film Festival. As managing director of Cinema/Chicago, Ms. Boccio managed all aspects of finance, fundraising and corporate sponsorships, marketing and public relations programs, annual galas, special events and outreach programs.

She succeeds Suzanne Brown, who had served as Fulcrum Point’s first executive director since 2001 when the organization left Performing Art Chicago to become an independent 501(c)(3) organization.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Ms. Boccio moved permanently to Chicago in 2000. For almost 20 years prior to that, Ms Boccio worked in Beijing and Hong Kong representing international and US companies that traded with China for commodities including wheat, metals and minerals, oil, coal and fertilizers. She also worked for two years in Sydney, Australia where she served as the administrative director for the NSW Branch of the Australia China Business Council. Between 1993-96, Ms. Boccio became an entrepreneur, establishing an independent film program in Beijing that provided groundbreaking opportunities for Chinese filmmakers to showcase their work to the international marketplace. She was responsible for all facets of the development, management and promotion of the program. Three years later, she gave the program to US-based Cherry Lane Productions.

Ms. Boccio earned a degree in business administration from Sacred Heart Commercial School in Hong Kong and completed advance coursework at Fordham University in New York. She resides with her husband, Michael, in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.

The Boccios currently serve as co-chairs of the 2008 Halloween at Goudy Park event.
 

Andrew Block – President
Shaun Block – Vice President
Lewis Ingall – Treasurer
Mason H. Drake – Secretary

Doris Adelstein
Mark Brandfonbrener
Stephen Burns
John Jones
Hannah B. Higgins
Gilles Noyer

Judith Neisser -- President Emeritus