24 | 2016 | Classical Composition of the Year |John Burge | | The JUNO Awards

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario

John Burge was born in Dryden, ON (1961), and holds degrees in Composition and Theory from the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. He has been teaching at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON since 1987, where he has been Director of the School of Music. He has written a large body of vocal, chamber and orchestral compositions, but is particularly well known for his choral music. Many of his choral works have been published by Boosey and Hawkes Music Publishers. His composition, Angels’ Voices, for choir and orchestra, received the 2006 Outstanding New Choral Composition Award from the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors and was been performed in New York City’s Carnegie Hall and other major venues. Burge has also produced a large body of music for strings and string orchestra and has been repeatedly commissioned over the years by groups such as The Thirteen Strings of Ottawa and Sinfonia Toronto. His work, Flanders Fields Reflections, as recorded by Sinfonia Toronto, on the Marquis Label, received the 2009 JUNO Award for the Best Recording of a Canadian Classical Composition. With titles like, Snowdrift, Rocky Mountain Overture, Upper Canada Fiddle Suite, and The Canadian Shield, it is obvious that a number of his works for large ensemble draw their influence from a distinctively Canadian perspective. Orchestras and audiences seem taken with these works as they have received numerous performances across Canada and even as far away as Brazil and Russia. A passionate advocate for Canadian music, he was a member of the Executive of the Canadian League of Composers from 1993-2007, serving as President from 1998 to 2006. He was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 2014 for his contributions to Music and leadership in the Arts in Canada.