We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Burke recently and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

More than a music school, we are interested in fostering the WHOLE emerging artist. At Burke Music Academy, we believe in the profound impact of music education. It’s not just about learning notes; it’s about fostering creativity, discipline, and a lifelong love for the arts. I am truly passionate about providing a space where individuals can discover and nurture their musical talents in a disciplined, but holistic way. We aid them with workshops led by industry professionals that focus on: Performance Anxiety, YogaVoice studies, Alexander Technique, building sustainable practice routines, composition, and so much more.

Our main goal is to deconstruct the conservatory model and give artists at all stages of development that have a unique passion and voice a place to be, grow, experiment, learn, fail, succeed, and change.
We have students who are 5, and students who are literally in their 70’s, but there is a unifying quality of all BMA students-their drive to truly create and be a vessel for music to live through them. More than a hobby, music for them is the discipline that has impacted their lives. I myself. have seen students come in shy, and somewhat on-the-fence about their abilities, and within their same year of enrollment they not only are leaders in our BMA community, but also have gone on to win major competitions, scholarships, and attend prestigious masterclasses and arts programs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Samantha Burke is not just an accomplished opera singer and violinist, but also a dedicated educator and the visionary behind Burke Music Academy (BMA), nestled in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia and serves students virtually across the United States, Europe, and Hawaii. Born to immigrant parents and now an adoptive co-parent to three children, Samantha’s journey has been one of perseverance, driven by her unwavering passion for music and commitment to providing opportunities for others. From a young age, Samantha harbored dreams of becoming a concert violinist and opera singer. Despite financial constraints, she pursued her passion with determination, working odd jobs to fund her music lessons. Her journey was marked by the realization that technical proficiency was essential to her aspirations, leading her to recognize the need for consistent, quality instruction.
With a desire to bridge the gap for talented students from low-income households, Samantha harbored a vision of establishing a music school offering scholarships. In 2020, this dream materialized with the founding of Burke Music Academy. In 2023 Burke Music Academy proudly awarded 3-year half tuition scholarships to students ranging from ages 6-71. This was made possible through the generosity of private sponsors. BMA remains dedicated to expanding these opportunities further by awarding these scholarships to students each Fall to 40+ students in 2024.
BMA stands out in the music education landscape by offering a holistic approach that nurtures students not only as musicians but as well-rounded individuals. At BMA our teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking, transparency, and student-driven learning. Through a conservatory-style curriculum, BMA aims to cultivate high-performing musicians while fostering their spirits and minds. BMA students participate in: Masterclasses (HONEmasterclass.com) with industry leading professionals, Pop Up Concerts inspired by NPR’s Tiny Desk, Summer Intentensives, Monthly Song Studio Classes open to the public, Recitals, Concert Excursions, and Community Outreach.
The academy serves a niche of highly motivated students, ranging from early adolescence to young adults, who aspire to excel in music. With a focus on technical proficiency, self-confidence, and artistic development, BMA provides a supportive environment where students can thrive.

Additionally BMA every year is committed to releasing a full studio album featuring our students across the county. You can listen to our latest album, Songs of Summer, by clicking this link.: Songs of Summer
In the summer of 2024, Burke Music Academy will be releasing another full studio album with accompanying visuals as a part of our Summer Vocal Intensive Program.
Our 2024 Summer Vocal Intensive for students ages 7-20 will be held in 2 sessions from June 10th-22nd Mondays-Saturdays from 9am-5pm hosted by Eastminster Presbyterian Church. Payment assistance for applicants, and housing is available for students traveling to Atlanta. The application deadline is May 10th, 2024. This intensive program specially curated for advanced singers, promises a comprehensive and immersive experience towards self discovery, technique building, new performance heights, and networking with leading industry professionals from The Metropolitan Opera, Broadway, Film & TV, and major colleges. Singers will participate in lessons, mock auditions, album recording, a musical scenes program, acting & yoga classes, masterclasses and get career advice from our esteemed faculty. We want participants to leave changed with more tools as a musician, and clear about who you are as a true Artist. For more information please visit: https://www.burkemusicacademy.com/bma-summer-vocal-intensive
Looking ahead, BMA envisions growth and expansion, aiming to become an accredited pre-college conservatory with a global reach. Through strategic partnerships and a network of dedicated teachers, the academy seeks to impact a broader community of aspiring musicians.
At BMA, students can expect personalized instruction, diverse repertoire, and performance opportunities tailored to their goals. The academy offers two tracks of study—the Discovery Track for beginners and the Performance Track for those seeking professional opportunities and career guidance.
In essence Burke Music Academy, under Samantha Burke’s leadership with the support of all our faculty and guests, represents a beacon of musical excellence and inclusivity, where passion meets opportunity, and dreams take flight.

In closing we leave you with our mantra, “Stay open mentally, stay open in your voice, stay open in your heart posture, and keep your hands open to give and receive freely.”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve always felt a sense of a higher calling. As a young child, before I had the right verbiage to express the calling God had on my life to others, I knew deep inside that I was meant to walk out something new…to develop something new in this world. I’ve worked for numerous companies and learned what works and what does not. The overarching thing that I can say that is missing from well-meaning conservatories, and small music schools alike is twofold: the commitment for meeting people where they’re at (talent-wise, their interests, and their natural temperament) and showing them how to achieve greater practically.

It is about giving students the tools to actually pull the best out of them for the sake of the music that they’re trying to create AND speak to their flawed humanity. It is important to have the conversations of how to deal with the mental fortitude it takes to be a musician. At BMA, we do that year round and open up that discussion to the public through our Performance Anxiety and Alexander Technique workshop, our Audition Prep workshop, and De-mystifying artist discussions with industry leading professionals to discuss how to mentally, emotionally, and physically hold the weight of being a musician in 2024 from the earliest learning stages to a professional career stage.
The major conservatories focus on producing and reproducing canonic works in as imaginative ways as possible, but how many different ways can you do Mozart’s Magic Flute without making a mockery out of it, or watering down the experience. Smaller schools of music are simply trying to inspire young students to ignite the spark of musicality within, while monopolized large companies disguised as schools of music aim is to make the most money out of parents who are trying to bridge the gap between their child’s musical interests, and the necessity for individualized instruction that goes beyond what the students can do in their chorus, band, or orchestra class.

Major conservatories and small music schools alike do not understand nor do they always speak to the changing tide of what it means to be a well-rounded musician in 2024. Gone are the days when it was enough for a musician to be wholly confident and secure in a single genre of music. it is not realistic nor is it human. We at Burke Music Academy truly believe that as dynamic creative beings, we should have all of the tools and technical capabilities to bridge the gap between students doing canonic works and doing crossover genres of music equally well.

I was recently invited to participate in a recital at South Carolina State University where I sang and was interviewed by the student musicians from the college. Doe-eyed and full of optimism, they asked me questions such as, “ What should I do to become a full-time musician and support myself financially”, to which I responded, “do everything and do it to the best of your ability stay curious and continually study your craft you must practice daily even if it’s for 10 minutes feed your instrument feed your Technique by reading books watching master classes and lectures online and in person going to as many concerts as possible of all genres sit in on others lessons keep a journal of what you do well and what you don’t do so well spend time intentionally in the practice room sitting in the discomfort of trying to do the thing that you don’t do well over and over and over. the idea is that you are not practicing to get something right but practicing the right thing on repeat in isolation for a given time period so that you cannot do it any other way. essentially become so comfortable with Putting yourself in humbling and uncomfortable situations where you can learn.”

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

So from 2021 to 2023 I worked at a Christian School as a part time music teacher. During my time there I felt motivated to help the students and the program grow to new heights, but quickly got burnt out. I felt accepted and supported by the students and the faculty there at the very beginning, but then as time went on I started to notice that my ideas were not as popular because it would require the administration and students to do some things differently. Most people don’t like to do things that are different outside of their comfort zones which is fine.

As a person of faith I asked God to help me and to lead me into making the best decisions moving forward for my time there. At the end of 2023 with the full assurance from God, I made the decision that in 2024 I would take my leave. I decided to start working full time in my business because there was more to be done.I felt like I’d only been giving my business for the past 4 years 20% of my effort and already the result was incredible. In January of 2024 I took a leap of faith to really walk out what God had told me to do since I was a child, and start moving towards building BurkeMusic Academy to one day be a major Conservatory in the southeast. We don’t aim to be just any Conservatory, we want to be the place for the new musician. We encourage our students to do works from Bach, Hydan, Vivaldi, Scriabin, Puccini and Mozart, but with the same gravitas as they perform and study works by Nina Simone Cole Porter Led Zeppelin The Beatles Dua LIPA and everything in between.

By taking this leap of faith in the first 4 months of going full-time walking out this vision that God has given me we have doubled his size are on track to give away many more scholarships this Fall. My incredible team and students are producing and performing pop-up concerts in Atlanta and virtually inspired by NPR’s tiny desk, working on our second album, and have built relationships with local schools and foundations. We are in the process of extending our Global Network of students in Hawaii and Europe. Simply by the word of mouth we’ve been able to impact not only students in Atlanta, but we have a network of students who work with us virtually in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, and even as far as Hawaii, Spain, and Turkey. We’ve been able to reach these students virtually and maintained a wonderful working relationship with these students,and we’re connected to these students simply by the word of mouth.

I have been a teacher for nearly 13 years, and I am already in awe of what my small team has been able to accomplish in such a short space of time. We still need a ton of help, but we are all assured that God is working in a huge way because of a leap of faith.

Contact Info:

• Website: burkemusicacademy.com, SamanthaBurkeSoprano.com, Honemasterclass.com
• Instagram: @burkemusicacademy, @SamanthaBurkeSoprano
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burkemusicacademy/ , Facebook.com/SamanthaBurkeSoprano
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samanthagburke/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@burkemusicacademy , https://www.youtube.com/@samanthaburkesoprano
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/burke-music-academy-atlanta
• Other: Links to our 2023 album: https://music.apple.com/us/album/songs-of-summer/1701591500 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC75BD0kcNDdGXMMlirm1eyQ https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B0CF25Y9TL?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_yRH3pjg1Vfj1dZ5CcV8QFVqFV

Image Credits
Blackforest productions Nerd Creative Academy Reserved and Radiant Photography