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Cameron Burns

Senior Vocal Coach

Cameron graduated with a starred-first in piano performance from New College, Oxford, where he was an academic scholar and organ scholar and he subsequently studied with Mirella Freni at CUBEC in Italy, with Dennis O’Neill at WIAV, and at the National Opera Studio, London. He is an alumnus of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and the Solti-Perretti Accademia. He studied privately with Graham Johnson and Martin Isepp and frequently accompanied Laura Sarti’s lessons in the UK and Paris.

Cameron Burns made his conducting debut in 2012 with the London Symphony Orchestra’s “Take a bow” project. He was mentored by Sir Jeffrey Tate and from 2015-2020 he was Kapellmeister of the Staatsoper Hannover where he conducted over 150 performances of opera and ballet. He has also conducted operas for Chelsea Opera Group, Zomer Opera, Belgium and Opera Trionfo, Amsterdam. Opera highlights include A Midsummer Night’s DreamDie Zauberflöte, Trojahn: Was ihr wolltLes dialogue des Carmélites, Owen Wingrave, Cosí fan TutteDon Giovanni, Euryanthe, L’italiana in Algeri, Hänsel und Gretel, Alcina, Greek Passion, L’elisir d’amore and Candide. Guest engagements include Orquestra Clássica do Sul, Portugal, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Salomon Orchestra. Symphonic highlights include Strauss Vier Letze Lieder, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Nielson Symphony 4 and Wagner Wesendock Lieder.

Cameron started his career working freelance as music staff for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Mariinsky Theatre, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Reisopera, The Netherlands and the BBC Proms with the John Wilson Orchestra.  He was a conducting scholar with the London Symphony Chorus, Chorus Master of Grange Park Opera for three seasons, Assistant Chorus Master of ENO and a guest Chorus Master for Reisopera, The Netherlands. He has accompanied masterclasses and private lessons with many of the world’s greatest singers including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (at the Metropolitan Opera, New York), Dame Felicity Lott, Sir John Tomlinson and Sherrill Milnes, and he has prepared singers for role debuts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayreuther Festspiele, Glyndebourne and La Scala, Milan.