Singer Dashon Burton delivers encouragement and practical advice to Milwaukee teens
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
After rehearsing about 120 local high school singers in Gabriel Fauré's "Requiem," Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra music director Ken-David Masur gave them specific notes on phrasing. Then he turned the mic over to soloist Dashon Burton.
What message did the two-time Grammy winner deliver to teenagers from Milwaukee, Germantown and Hartford?
"Always remember you have a voice and we want to hear it up here," Burton said, his sincerity underlined by his resonant bass-baritone voice.
Burton is the MSO's artistic partner for 2023-'24. This artist-in-residence program brings him here throughout the season for three different classical subscription series programs, including the June 7-9 concerts featuring Orff's "Carmina Burana."
Burton's partnership also involves him in MSO outreach and community activities, including the annual Teen Choral Partners Concert, which took place Feb. 28. Masur, a former chorister himself, has a passion for choral singing and, as a young man helped his father, the famed conductor Kurt Masur, prepare choirs for New York Philharmonic concerts.
Prior to a rehearsal for the teen choral concert, Burton, 41, took questions from the students, responding with a mixture of encouragement to keep singing and to consider music school, and with down-to-earth, practical advice. Sing with your head up, looking forward, not tilted down toward your musical score, he urged them.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Burton grew up mostly in the Bronx in a family where he heard many kinds of music: R&B, jazz, classical (including Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique") and lots of Al Green.
After graduating from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Burton sang with the Twin Cities-based male vocal ensemble Cantus before earning his master's degree through the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music.
He won his first Grammy in 2013 as a member of the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, and his second in 2021 for best classical solo album for the recording of Dame Ethyl Smyth’s "The Prison."
Burton is an assistant professor of voice at Vanderbilt University. In a recent interview, he responded to questions with enthusiasm.
Burton's message to students is deeply personal
"It's our job to make sure we're doing as much as we can for these students," he said. "That we're infusing as much life and energy into these students so that they're able to really know that they're cherished, that their message matters, that they really have a place in the world."
As a young Black classical singer, Burton found encouragement
"I found a lot of really great mentors," he said. "Strong and well trained musicians … teaching me early on. And a lot of Black musicians as well … telling me. 'This a good career path for you.' So I was very encouraged from the start, and I'm really grateful for that."
Bass-baritone is a label, not a definition
"Some days I'm a bass, some days I'm a baritone, it just kind of depends on the music that I'm singing," he said, likening those labels to different coats he can put on and off. "Being a bass-baritone means that I get to sing much of the lower sort of solo music that's out there."
90% of Burton's voice comes from training
That's what Burton told the teenage choral singers, and he's sticking to that. Singing is "a very coordinated activity," he said. Just like hitting a baseball, you have to practice the basics, Burton said. A person may be born with an amazing and resilient voice, but the "vocal folds are just the size of an almond," so they have to be delicately taken care of, he said.
Burton had a life-altering musical experience in west Africa
When he was a member of Cantus, the group rehearsed at a Presbyterian church in downtown Minneapolis. That connection led Cantus to be invited as musical performers on a tour of Cameroon celebrating the 50th anniversary of Presbyterian churches there. The welcome Cantus received from choirs and communities there was amazing, he said. "I will never forget it."
Burton has found a favorite joint in Milwaukee
"I really just love the (Milwaukee) Public Market," he said. When the singer was in town last season, "that just fed me for the entire week, both literally and spiritually."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Two-time Grammy winner teams up with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
