Austin Burket '11

New York violinist Austin Burket jumpstarted his career as the Concertmaster/Violin 1 for the Second National Tour of "Hamilton," serving in that position for five years. Since leaving the tour in 2023, he has earned the trust of the New York Broadway community as a regular substitute violinist for "Sweeney Todd" and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and as a substitute Concertmaster for "Hamilton" and "Merrily We Roll Along." In addition to his Broadway credits, Burket is an avid recording musician whose session work includes appearances on albums for Mama Magnolia, Zachary Williams, the Old 97's, The Nightowls, and Mackenzie Shivers; the film soundtrack for Clemente recently premiered at SXSW; and podcast themes for "History That Doesn't Suck," "Business Movers," and "History Daily." His string-arranging work was recently featured on S. Carey's "Solo With Strings" European Tour. Before his time in New York, Burket was a frequent substitute violinist for the Florida Orchestra and Lansing Symphony Orchestra.

He completed his master's degree in Violin Performance under the direction of Dmitri Berlinsky at Michigan State University. During his two years at MSU, Burket often served as Concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra and Opera Orchestra under the direction of maestro Kevin Noe. Before his time at MSU, Burket graduated magna cum laude from Stetson University under the direction of Routa Kroumovitch-Gomez, receiving dual Bachelor's degrees in both Violin Performance and Chemistry. He is a Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society member interviewed for their "Behind the Key" series. He also served as President of Stetson's chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity for two years.

In addition to his outstanding collegiate musical experience, Burket has participated in masterclasses with celebrated artists and pedagogues Mikhail Bezverkhni, Brooklyn Rider, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. He has also appeared in countless music festivals, including Summit Music Festival; Nuevo Mundo Festival in Aruba; the International Academy of Music in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Italy; Brevard Music Festival; Orfeo Music Festival in Vipiteno, Italy; Bowdoin International Music Festival; and Eastern Music Festival.