Anna Burden studied the cello with Hans Jørgen Jensen at Northwestern University, Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins at the Juilliard School and Alan Stepansky at the Manhattan School of Music. Music was omnipresent in Anna’s early years, and she began piano lessons at 6 years of age. Two years later, after hearing the sound of the cello in a summer music camp, she asked her parents to register her for courses on the instrument. At 11, during an orchestral rehearsal, Anna knew that she wanted to become a professional musician. Her favourite musical memory coincides with the inauguration of the Maison symphonique. It was Anna Burden’s first concert with the OSM in a programme including Beethoven’s monumental Symphony no. 9. Apart from her orchestral work, Anna Burden is active as a teacher and is also a member of the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra in Wisconsin.

 

Joined the OSM in: 2011

Previous positions: Saint Louis Symphony (2010–2011)

Model of instrument: Cello by Carl Becker Sr. (Chicago), 1929

Hometown: Chicago

First musical love: Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite

Favourite works: J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Beethoven’s last string quartets and piano concertos nos 4 and 5

Distinctions: Grand Prize winner at the Music Teachers National Association Competition, winner of the Society of American Musicians Competition, various prizes at the Washington International Competition, Stulberg International Strings Competition and WAMSO Young Artists Competition

Interests: Teaching, yoga, exercise