Russell Burnham

Russell Burnham was born and bred in the briar patches of northern Louisiana. His interest in music was piqued at the age of fourteen when his younger sister began piano lessons and his father won a portable stereo that came with recordings of three Beethoven symphonies. He earned his bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees--all in clarinet performance--at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where he studied with Paul Dirksmeyer. His composition teachers were Kenneth Klaus and Dinos Constantinedes. Burnham is also an alumnus of the Blossom Festival School, a joint venture of the Cleveland Orchestra and Kent State University. He has taught single reeds, theory, history-literature, and general studies courses at California State University, Chico for the past 30 years and is the principal clarinetist with the North State Symphony (Chico-Redding-Red Bluff, California). This past year, he was Composer In Residence for the San Francisco Choral Artists. One of his recent compositions, "The Dance," has been chosen for performance by the Toronto Camerata in March of 2004.