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OUR COMPOSERS
John Thomas Burke
John Thomas Burke (b. 1918) served as Executive Director of Choristers Guild from 1978 - 1986 and is a past President of the Choristers Guild Board of Directors.
Mr. Burke is composer of numerous compositions for church choirs, a number of which are published by Choristers Guild.
Mr. Burke was Organist and Choirmaster of the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, California. He was also Adjunct Professor of Church Music at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, and Conductor of the Pacific School of Religion Chorale. He was Lecturer in Organ Music for the University of California, Berkeley, and taught organ for this same university and the College of Holy Names, Oakland, California.
He is the Past-Dean of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He was Northern California State Chairman of the American Guild of Organists, and in June 1976 conducted two workshops at the National Convention of the AGO in Boston.
Mr. Burke received his music education at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, from which he holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree. He has continued study toward his Doctor's degree in Music at the University of Southern California, and has done special work at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts, and at Stanford University. He was an organ pupil of Dr. David Hugh Jones, Carl Weinrich, Alexander McCurdy, and Lawrence Moe. As an organist, he as concertized extensively on the West Coast. In May 1975, Mr. Burke played five organ concerts at the International Organ Week in Westphalia-Lippe, West Germany.
In 1982 Mr. Burke was presented with the Alumni Merit Award from Westminster Choir College for his distinguished achievement as church musician and educator.