N O T A B L E   Q U O T E S ,   R E V I E W S   A N D   C I T A T I O N S :

-“Steven Burke has that rarest of inventive gifts, a personal voice.  Beneath the orchestral mastery of Clockwise - an ASCAP commission in honor of his teacher Jacob Druckman - lurks an antic energy, full of mischief and surprise.  Epilogue a touching concert piece for clarinet and chamber orchestra, shows another side: wistful melancholy and languid sighs.  A man of many moods, Burke creates already his own musical universe. ” – Citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters

-“might have been written by Brahms after hearing the Rite of Spring.”  The work is “highly accomplished and including some novel sonorities…bursting with historical awareness and creative confidence.” –The New York Times, Paul Griffiths

-“the writing has power..stinging emotions.” – The Los Angeles Times, Mark Swed

-“There are some wonderful composers who are emerging now and who will be voices of their generation. One is Steven Burke. A remarkable composer. Completely trusting of his instinct, who writes passionate, wild, and completely controlled music.”
– David Del Tredici, in an interview on Public Radio

-“..a young composer, who, somehow, learned as much from the outrageously Romantic David Del Tredici as he did from the coolheaded modernist Jacob Druckman.” – The New Yorker

-“a major talent” – Steven Stucky
-“The bustling, deliciously skewed rhythms… tugged at each other in this high-energy game of tag…that mixed Copland, Stravinsky and frisky jazz syncopations.” –  The Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein

-“..high-powered” – The New York Times, Allan Kozinn

-“The music was extremely expressive, even elegiac” – The Times Union