Douglas Burden
bass trombone
Douglas Burden has been the bass trombonist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra since 1972. He started teaching at the University of Ottawa in 1975 and continues to do so. In 2000 Mr. Burden was invited to join the teaching staff of the Schulich School of Music, McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. For a period of five years he traveled weekly to Kingston and taught at Queen’s University. He was also a member of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra for seventeen years.
Mr. Burden was born in Windsor, Ontario, and moved quite often as a young child living in Woodstock ON, St. Catherines ON, Calgary AB, Toronto ON, and London ON. His formative years were spent in Hamilton, Ontario.
After playing the cornet, trumpet, and tenor trombone for seven years, he received his early formal instruction on the bass trombone at the Hamilton Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Antal Dvorak. Upon receiving a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music, he continued his studies in Rochester under the famous trombone teacher Emory Remington and later with Donald Knaub, graduating in 1975 with a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance “summa cum laude”. While at Eastman, Mr. Burden studied conducting with Donald Hunsberger and Gustav Meier.
In 1979 Mr. Burden received a grant from the Canada Council to continue studies with Arnold Jacobs and Edward Kleinhammer, both members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
As an active member of the musical life of Ottawa, Mr. Burden has performed solo bass trombone recitals for the CBC, solo recitals at the University of Ottawa, performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, was a member of the Ottawa Brass Quintet, and was the manager and co-founder of Classical Brass, a ten-piece brass ensemble. Currently he is bass trombonist and Secretary/Treasurer of Capital BrassWorks; www.capitalbrassworks.com. You can hear him on their three recordings: Capital BrassWorks, their first self-produced and self-titled CD; From Russia with Brass, a critically acclaimed CBC SM5000 recording; and Gabriel’s Sister featuring NACO principal trumpet Karen Donnelly. Two of Mr. Burden’s former students are now the principal trombonist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the second trombone player of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra respectively. Many other students have gone on to successful careers as music educators and military band musicians.
As a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Mr. Burden has performed and recorded with such conductors as Pinchas Zukerman, Franz-Paul Decker, Mario Bernardi, and Eduardo Mata. While on tour with NACO Mr. Burden has presented masterclasses at the University of British Columbia, University of Lethbridge, University of Calgary, and the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He is a member of the Orchestra’s Education Committee. In addition to playing with the NAC Orchestra in virtually all of their concert series, he has accompanied The National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Quebec Opera Company, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Festival Singers, CBC Talent Competitions, Canadian Music Competitions, the Elmer Isler Singers, The Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Gachinger Cantorei, La Scala Ballet, Opera Lyra Ottawa, the Stuttgart Chamber Choir, the Scottish Ballet, the Ottawa Choral Society, the Cantata Singers of Ottawa, and the National Arts Centre summer opera seasons.
As a free-lance musician Mr. Burden has performed and recorded with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit. He has performed with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and in the pit orchestras for Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera among others. Other freelance work has included playing in the backup orchestras for singers and entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, and Rich Little. Mr. Burden is a Yamaha Performing Artist and can be heard on recordings of the National Arts Centre Orchestra on the RCA and CBC labels and on the Decca/London and EMI labels with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He is in demand across North America as a soloist, conductor, adjudicator, and clinician.
Douglas Burden was a Salvation Army Bandsman for thirty years. During that period he was a member of the London Citadel Band, the Hamilton Temple Band, and the Ottawa Citadel Band. At the age of fifteen he was appointed to the Canadian Staff Band based in Toronto. While in Ottawa, Mr. Burden was the Deputy Bandmaster for six years and then was the Bandmaster for fourteen years. Under his leadership the Ottawa Citadel Band made significant musical improvement which resulted in, among other things, three recordings, a performance at Roy Thomson Hall in 1989, and a tour of The Netherlands in 1992.
During the NAC Orchestra’s Quebec Tour in 2006, Doug became the NAC’s official tour blogger for the Ottawa Citizen’s website. These blogs can now be enjoyed on the NAC’s Quebec Tour website at: www.NACOtour.ca.
Douglas married his wife Wendy in 1977. They have two daughters; Stephanie and Jennifer, and two bichon frisés; Bandit and Rocky. He enjoys reading, watching movies, swimming, and going for long motorcycle rides with his wife on their 1993 Honda Goldwing. You can contact him by email at Douglas.burden@sympatico.ca .
October 2008
