It was a pleasure chatting with Lizzie Burns about the fascinating career that she has carved out for herself in the music world.  

New York City based bass player Lizzie Burns specializes in small ensemble repertoire and solo works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Lizzie is a recent alum of the Carnegie Hall based fellowship program Ensemble Connect, during which she cultivated audience engagement skills on and off stage as well as in public school classrooms and community settings.

As a roster musician of Decoda, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble in Residence, she is able to continue that work alongside her extraordinary colleagues. She feels very lucky to travel the world and regularly perform with ensembles such as The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, The Knights, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as well as perform new works and collaborate with composers alongside the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Lizzie’s musical life started in rock and fusion bands, and she currently enjoys employing her rhythm section chops in the musical theater world. She was the bass player for “Moby Dick” and “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” at Boston’s American Repertory Theater, and in 2016-17 she could be found regularly at Broadway’s Imperial Theater in the onstage band for Great Comet. Lizzie pursued her higher education in Boston both at the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University where she studied with Don Palma and Ed Barker respectively.

We talk about her path toward music school, how Don Palma inspired her to head down the path that she’s now on, advice for people looking to explore a career in chamber music, and much more. 

We chatted on February 25h for the podcast, and much has changed in the world in the intervening weeks, but I hope that you enjoy taking your mind off of these concerning times with this engaging and thoughtful conversation with Lizzie! 

Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle!

I’d also like to thank the sponsors who have supported us over the months and years. If you’d like to help the bass community recover as quickly as possible, consider visiting their site and making a purchase: 

• D’Addario Strings
• Upton Bass
• The Bass Violin Shop
• Steve Swan String Bass
• Kolstein Music
• A440 Violin Shop
• Modacity
  

Contrabass Conversations production team:

• Jason Heath, host
• Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing
• Mitch Moehring, audio engineer
• Trevor Jones, publication and promotion
• Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging

Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!