Chief Executive
London Sinfonietta

Andrew Burke has been the Chief Executive of the London Sinfonietta since 2007.  He is responsible for the overall running of the organisation, curating its artistic seasons with a range of artistic partners, commissioning an expanding range of work while forming new partnerships with promoters in the UK and internationally.

Recent projects for the London Sinfonietta in the 15/16 season have included Notes to the New Government (an evening of 16 commissioned songs with messages about society) and a collaboration with artist Christian Marclay at the White Cube Gallery.  A new chamber opera double-bill by Sir Harrison Birwistle has sat alongside commissions from BAFTA nominated Mica Levi and staged performaces at the Royal Opera House of music by Georg Friedrich Haas.

Andrew devised and initiated a smartphone app that will teach people to perform Steve Reich’s Clapping Music that secured a rare Digital R&D grant. He started the London Sinfonietta’s annual Academy and Emerging Artists Programme offering professional training and experience to brilliant players and conductors who will perform new music in the future.  The Blue Touch Paper and Writing the Future schemes have evolved to nurture new cross-art form work from emerging composers.    He worked with choreographer Liz Lerman to introduce her technique of Critical Response to the evolution of new music projects.

His background is in music education work. He was the Head of LSO Discovery (developing schemes for emerging composers and mass participation projects for young instrumentalists) and at the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (running town residency projects, creative digital technology link-ups, and cross genre projects with artists such as Django Bates).