Auditorium Theatre 2018-19 Issue 2 Too Hot to Handel

8 | TOO HOT TO HANDEL | JANUARY 19+20, 2019 BIOGRAPHIES Alfreda Burke (Soprano) has a voice that has been described as “voluptuous, creamy, and luxuriant” by the Chicago Tribune. She has appeared in concert throughout North America and Europe. Burke made her Carnegie and Orchestra Hall debuts in Strauss’ Elektra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, led by Daniel Barenboim. Highlighted performances include the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia under Erich Kunzel; Cincinnati Pops Symphony Orchestra; Detroit Opera House/Detroit Symphony Orchestra/ Rackham Choir; Prague Philharmonic; Umbria Music Festival (Italy); Todi Music Festival; Miss World 2012, 2014, and 2016 (China, UK, and the US); Chief Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela and Miss World Beauty With A Purpose & Rise Against Hunger (South Africa) gala events; Holders Season Gala (Barbados); Lancaster Festival; Corrales Cultural Arts Council (New Mexico); Grant Park Music Festival; Millennium Park Gala; Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Kennedy Center; Auditorium Theatre; Auditorium Theatre 125 th Living the History celebration; Chicago Opera Theater; Chorus Angelorum; Chicagoland Pops Orchestra; Old St. Patrick’s Siamsa na nGael ; and the NATO Chicago Summit, among others. Burke filmed the Prague PBS special Hallelujah Broadway (Mind the Gap Films, Dublin, Ireland) and recorded it on the EMI/Manhattan Records label (Czech National Symphony Orchestra Studios, Prague). She is honored to be a HistoryMaker and a permanent part of their collection at the Library of Congress. Burke’s oratorio, opera, concert, and musical theatre engagements include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert broadcast on WFMT-FM; Mozart’s Requiem , Mass in C Minor and Coronation Mass in C Major ; Handel’s Messiah ; Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream ; Beethoven’s Mass in C ; Poulenc’s Gloria ; Mahler’s 2 nd and 8 th Symphonies ; Strauss’ Elektra ; Puccini’s Turandot (Liu); Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta ; Barber’s Knoxville : Summer of 1915 ; Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors ; Rutter’s Requiem ; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem ; Boulez’s Le Visage Nuptial , under the baton of Pierre Boulez; Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess ; Bernstein’s West Side Story ; Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar (Mary Magdalene); Christianson and Anderson’s Too Hot to Handel ; and Kern’s Show Boat (Kennedy Center/national tour and at Auditorium Theatre with her son, Dean), directed by Harold Prince. A cycle of Paul Laurence’s Dunbar Songs was written for Burke by Dr. Edward Hart of the College of Charleston (2015), in addition to spiritual settings arranged for her by Belford Hernandez (2017). She was featured in the CSO’s Symphony Center Inaugural Festival and Radiothon. She has also performed for Francis Cardinal George, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, and the Office for Immigrant Affairs’ Keep Hope Alive benefit. Burke’s work in recordings, music video, television, radio, film, and commercials includes soprano vocals on the Dawa movies soundtrack featuring Ramsey Lewis; performing with Maestro James Mack and members of the CSO; a Bobby Lewis release; vocals on Celine Dion and R. Kelly’s I’m Your Angel ; and numerous classical/crossover, sacred/secular profiles and broadcasts including The Visit , The Visitors , Unconditional Love , and U.S. Marshals . Burke has made guest soloist appearances on the WTTW/Odyssey broadcast of 30 Good Minutes and performed the National Anthem for the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Fire. Burke received rave reviews for the Community Concerts national tour and Following in the Footsteps concert with tenor Rodrick Dixon. Her discography includes her solo debut CD From the Heart and Hallelujah Broadway (EMI/Manhattan Records). She recorded and performed the Chicago Olympic 2016 Bid Anthem “I Will Stand” at the Millennium Park Gala and served on the city’s Arts & Culture Advisory Council. Recent and upcoming engagements include productions of Too Hot to Handel at the Detroit Opera House/Rackham Choir (16 years), Memphis’ Orpheum Theatre, and the Auditorium Theatre (13 years), where the production will be livestreamed to prisons across the country, thanks to the Auditorium Theatre and Elmhurst Christian Reformed Church; City Lights Orchestra; Variety Children’s Charity Telethon; Trey Clegg Singers (Atlanta); Michael Teolis Singers; and the Auditorium Theatre and DiBurke, Inc. co-produced duo show and subsequent CD release of Songs of a Dream . Burke received master’s and bachelor’s degrees in music from Roosevelt University and served as Alumna Ambassador for Roosevelt’s 60 th Anniversary. She currently serves on the Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts Advisory Board as the Community Engagement Committee Chair and served on the Auditorium Theatre’s 125 th Anniversary Season Committee. Visit SopranoAlfredaBurke.com and TheHistoryMakers.org. Follow Burke on Twitter at @AlfredaBurke17. The talent, support, and encouragement of Alfreda Burke’s beloved parents ignited her passion for music. Her performances are dedicated to the life, love, legacy, and cherished memory of Pastor John H. Burke Jr. and First Lady Mamie R. Burke. .