Title: Over a Moving Landscape
Commission: 2003
Completed: 2005
Instrumentation: bass clarinet and chamber ensemble
Premiere Location: Merkin Concert Hall, NYC
Premiere Ensemble: Sequitur
Notes: Dedicated to Nancy Brown Negley.

Cited by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as a composer who “has that rarest of inventive gifts, a personal voice,” Steven Burke is being recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation. His music has won praise for its emotional power and mastery. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times wrote “the writing has power . . . stinging emotions.” Paul Griffiths of the New York Times wrote, his work “might have been written by Brahms after hearing the Rite of Spring . . . highly accomplished . . . bursting with historical awareness and creative confidence.” A second citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters reads: “It’s rare, though, to hear music so distinctive, passionate, and compelling that suggests its composer is a voice for his generation. Steven Burke is one such fellow.”

Steven Burke began his musical studies with the trumpet at age seven. In college, he divided his time between music and science. He taught college chemistry as a sophomore and was involved with neurosurgery research at New York University Medical Center. Ironically, it was nerve damage that forced him to abandon trumpet and start composing. Once he started composing, he realized his passion and since age twenty has pursued composition exclusively. He went on to earn degrees from Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Yale University and Cornell University. He has studied with Chester Biscardi, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, Lukas Foss, Roberto Sierra and Steven Stucky.