Patrick Burke

PATRICK BURKE, a composer with a background in classical, popular, and folk music traditions, writes music for film and other media, orchestras, bands, and his own group—NOW Ensemble—which he co-founded in 2004. His music is deeply influenced by the films of certain directors (David Lynch, Maya Deren, Alejandro Jodorowski, etc.), and often employs a dream logic. Patrick’s current focus is on collaborations with musicians from other genres, which is on full display in Rounder Songs, co-composed with his wife, Emily Pinkerton, and performed by Emily and NOW Ensemble. The recording was released on November 17, 2017, on New Amsterdam Records, and has gained critical acclaim from John Schaefer on New Sounds (twice), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, textura (Top 10 EPs of 2017), No Depression, and PopMatters.

Patrick was commissioned in 2014 to compose Flourish for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which the PSO has performed several times. He has also been commissioned by the Albany Symphony, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Michael Mizrahi, IonSound Project, Alia Musica, Trillium Ensemble, Citywater Ensemble, and others. In 2004, Patrick and his colleagues at the Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School co-founded NOW Ensemble, dedicated to realizing the post-genre music of his generation. Patrick contributed the title track to their second album, Awake, reaching the #2 position on Amazon’s classical album charts, and #1 on iTunes. He has several pieces on albums released by New Amsterdam Records, called “the focal point of the post-classical scene” by Time Out New York.

Patrick’s music continues to be performed throughout North America, and has been performed in Europe and Oceania. His recent music has been called “indie-classical at its finest” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), and “glittering fun…at once very sophisticated and instantly accessible." (Third Coast Digest)