Ellen Burr is a masterful flutist who has spent her career exploring new
directions in music. As an energetic and entertaining flute performer and
improviser she strives to broaden the sound capabilities of the flute while
challenging the notions of what a soloist can accomplish. David Cotner of
the LA Weekly quotes, “The well-traveled Ellen Burr pushes the envelope
and sticks the stamp of excellence on solo flute playing (its sound, impact
and aftereffects)...” Her enthusiasm for promoting extended flute technique,
improvisation and contemporary classical music is also reflected in her ensemble
appearances.
Born in Buffalo, NY and raised in Michigan and Kansas, Ellen came from a loving
but decidedly non-musical family. At age ten, to avoid a social studies class,
she learned flute in the school band and quickly developed a love for the
instrument and a direction for life. Ellen’s busy and eclectic career
reflects the very whimsical way in which it began.
Ms. Burr holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance from Wichita State University, where she studied flute with Dr. Frances Shelly and composition with Dr. Walter Mays, began exploring free improvisation under the direction of Dr. Arthur Wolff, and participated in classes with visiting artists John Cage and R. Murray Schaffer. She went on to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree in Music Composition from California Institute of the Arts, studying with Morton Subotnick, Stephen Mosko and Pulitzer Prize winner Mel Powell. Ellen has also studied flute with Jim Hamilton and James Walker, and has participated in master-classes with William Bennett and Michel Debost. In addition, she was awarded the coveted Certificat de Stage after studying with Jean Pierre Rampal at the Academie Internationale D’Ete in France. As a composer, she has written and played for film, theater and dance, having had over forty of her compositions performed in the United States and Europe. She is a current member of ASCAP, American Music Center, American Composers Forum, Music Teachers Association of California and the National Flute Association.
While at WSU, Ellen began to improvise more radically. She became exposed to the then-current Fluxus art movement and was introduced to the esthetics of many great video artists and concrete poets. This early influence is exhibited through her many collaborations with fellow improvisers and various theater and dance troupes. Ellen is currently a member of Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra and Go: Organic Chamber Ensemble, Steuart Liebig’s Minim and Stigtette, Brad Dutz’s Nonet, Vinny Golia's Flute Quartet, a duo with bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, her own quartet Kaleidoscope and with her husband Steve Burr, the electronic flute and percussion duo Rare Birds. Ellen has also played with Wolfgang Fuchs, Mark Dresser, James Newton, and Yusef Lateef, and is currently featured on over fifteen CDs.
Her recent performances include: 2006 Vancouver New Music's presentation of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise led by John Tilbury; 2005 National Flute Association Annual Convention; 2003 Vancouver Jazz Festival; 2002 Las Vegas New Music Festival. Ellen's solo debut was with the Topeka Symphony when she was sixteen, and since then she has been a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States. Additionally, Ellen has premiered many new works by contemporary classical composers as varied as Roberto Sierra, Alba Potes, Phillipe Bodin, Daniel Rothman and David Avshalomov. She most recently premiered “Seegersong No. 2,” an alto flute solo by James Tenney. Ellen has been a featured performer at numerous Los Angeles music festivals and concert series: Microfest, Line Space Line, EarJam, Women Should Be Seen and Not Heard, West Hollywood Street Fair, Taste of LA, Santa Monica Folk and Jazz Festival, CalArts’ Electro-Acoustic Music Marathon, Lira Concerts at LA Harbor College, Open Gate Theatre Sunday Evening Concerts, Concerts West and Music of Changes.
Ellen Burr began her teaching career at the age of sixteen and has been a private flute teacher for over thirty years. Her students have won numerous solo competitions, positions in California state bands and orchestras and her premier student, Caroline Reilly is now attending Boston Conservatory. In addition to her private teaching, she gives instruction on extended flute techniques and improvisation, as well as lectures on creative financial and artistic strategies for freelance musicians. Ms. Burr is a flute specialist for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified school district, a Smart Music Clinician and a Yamaha Performing Artist. She has presented master-classes at the National Flute Association Annual Convention, Internales Symposium de Darstellenden Kunste (Switzerland), California Institute of the Arts, Wichita State University, Pacific Flute Camp and Wildacres Flute Retreat.
Ellen was the subject of a feature article, “Teaching Self-Awareness,” in 1997 in Flute Talk, a professional journal, and has since contributed a series of articles to the magazine on a variety of subjects including “The Business of Teaching,” and “A Guide to Improvisation.” She is currently at work on a method book, Flutastics, which features her own unique approach to extended flute techniques, a series of warm-up exercises for beginning and advanced flutists called Explorations, and Why Walk When You Can Fly, a free improvisation primer.
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