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A little over a decade after his birth into a “family of ministers” in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Burleigh was to begin building on his roots in the Black Church. He was appointed Sunday School pianist and director of the children’s choir at age 11 which later led to his holding posts as Minister of Music in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. His compositions show evidence of his Christian commitment. He served as Director of Music for the National Baptist Congress for five years, and as Composer-in-Residence for the Ambassador’s Concert Choir of Oklahoma City, OK from 1984-2000. Also he has served as Traveling Music Evangelist of the Graceway Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. His gospel songs and arrangements of spirituals are among the most popular in the country. The recording of Order My Steps with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, and with Barbara Johnson Tucker and Betty Ransom Nelson, earned several important nominations and awards. It was named Song of the Year for the Texas Gospel Music Awards in 1994 and it was nominated for the Dove Awards Song of the Year in 1995. This song has been used by choirs, symphony orchestras, college marching bands, and for state funerals and weddings. Order My Steps held a noteworthy position on the Billboard Gospel Charts for 94 consecutive weeks. The famed Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has also recorded it.
Skilled as a classical pianist and composer, Burleigh is equally as home in the classical arena. His facility at the keyboard attests to his excellent training and thorough understanding of the European style. He has performed works by Gershwin, Beethoven (Choral Fantasy) and his own Fantasy Dance Suite for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and The Ambassador’s Concert Choir. This concert was highlighted in Symphony Magazine (Sept/Oct, 1994). He has also appeared as guest pianist with the Omaha Symphony and the Racine Chamber Orchestra. In addition to solo works from the Europeon tradition , Mr. Burleigh has developed a special interest in the piano works by African American composers including works by Black Women Composers. He has presented many of these works in recitals at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, the University of Missouri, LeMoyne-Owen College and Bethune-Cookman College. His works, often a fusion of classical, gospel and jazz, have taken him to such prestigious stages as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts. Because of the “classical-gospel connection”, Glenn is often invited to the nation’s college campuses and conservatories to share his gifts with students from across the globe, including a lecture to the advanced composition classes at the Cincinnati Conservatory
The Omaha Symphony Orchestra premiered his Ebony Psalmfest for orchestra in a ?trio? of concerts featuring works of American composers Leonard Bernstein, Morton Gould, William Schuman, and Glenn Burleigh. Other major works of Burleigh include the Christmas cantata Born to Die, Opus 25 for chorus and orchestra; Alpha Mass for chorus and orchestra; Oklahoma Land for chorus and orchestra; Four Spirituals for bass/baritone and piano; the Easter cantata, Let God Arise; The Nguzo Saba Suite for piano, chorus and percussion (commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside Choral Department for the celebration of the African American holiday, Kwanzaa); and Lamentation and Celebration for chorus, brass choir, organ, piano and percussion (commissioned by Dr. Douglas Boyer and St. Andrews United Methodist Church with St Mary’s University of San Antonio, TX). This work was initially dedicated to the victims and survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, World Premiere April, 1996, but was recently ?rededicated? to include the recent tragedy of September 11, 2001.
Glenn Burleigh’s works have been performed by such ensembles as the Erie (PA) Chamber Orchestra, Dayton Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Racine Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Orchestra, Penn State University Concert Choir, Langston University Concert Choir, Cameron University Music Department, Wheaton College Concert and Gospel Choirs, Second Baptist Church Choir of Houston, TX, The Canterbury Singers of Oklahoma City, The Ambassadors’s Concert Choir of Oklahoma City, Bethune-Cookman College Concert Chorale, Gettysburgh College Choral Department, The Choral Arts Society of Washington DC, The Choral Arts Society of Wisconsin, Rev. Clay Evans and the Fellowship Baptist Church of Chicago, The Gospel Music Workshop Of America, The Oberlin Chamber Singers, Texas A & M University Concert Choir, Mineria and Mexico City Symphonies, Omaha Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Burleigh also accompanied the late Carol Brice and Thomas Carey (University of Oklahoma Professors and international concert artists) in numerous recitals.
Burleigh’s music has found its way around the globe being performed on every continent in the world. Its scope has broadened from the church/school to the university/conservatory, to the classical concert stage and to the movie industry. Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir performed one of his pieces, Lay Aside Every Weight, in the Disney movie, “The Preacher’s Wife.”
In January 2000 Burleigh’s work The Dreamer, commissioned by the Choral Arts Society of Washington,DC., was performed for the Martin Luther King Celebration at the John F. Kennedy Center For The performing Arts. It was the first new work performed in the Kennedy Center in the new mellineium. The Dreamer was performed by a 400-voiced choir (including 100 children) and the Brass Choir and organist of the Washington National Symphony.
Mr. Burleigh served as Artist-in-Residence at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee from 1999 to 2002. The College, at its 2001 Commencement ceremonies, awarded him the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL). He has been selected as a member of a panel of composers who were commissioned to compose works based on the same text, “this little light of mine,” to be performed at the 2003 ACDA concention held in New York City. He was also the featured composer at the 2002 Hampton Ministers’ Conference held at Hampton University in Virginia. Mr. Burleigh is available for long-term and short-term residencies at public and private schools, colleges, conservatories, universities and churches. He has prepared courses dealing with the following topics:
1. Introduction to and Survey of Gospel Music from the African American Perspective;
2. Gospel Music: The Classical Connection;
3. Gospel Music in the Catholic Church/Settings of THE MASS by African American Composers;
4. Conquering the Rhythms and Technical Challenges in the Piano Accompaniments of Glenn Burleigh (this would also include a discussion of the Piano Solo in the ?Fantasy Dance Suite? for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra),
5. Workshops on any extended work by Glenn Burleigh
6. Workshops on the Train Up a Child Series, Volumes I & II.
7. Comprehensive Musicianship For Pianists
Recent recordings of his works include a 2 Disc set of Born to Die, a re-issue of Alpha Mass on CD as well as a re-issue of Let God Arise, a choral/orchestral Celebration for Eastertime. A tape of Hymn and Spiritual arrangements for Solo Piano titled “Glenn “Burleigh Plays” and Songs for Children’s Choir from the “Train Up A Child Series”. There are two CDs from the state of Wisconsin:
1. The Nguzo Saba Suite ___ Dr. James Kinchen and the University Of Wisconsin-Parkside Choral Department with the composer at the piano (CD demo)
2. Lamentation and Celebration ___ Maestro James Schatzman and the Choral Arts Society of Wisconsin. ___ with the composer at the piano. This recording is a double dedication to the victims and survivors of the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 and the recent tragedy of September 11, 2001.
Mr. Burleigh is the founder of the Glenn Burleigh Music Workshop and Ministry, Inc.(1993), an organization that is dedicated to teaching and training of those in Christian Music Ministry, and to performing music at all academic levels focusing on the links between various musical styles. A large number of Mr. Burleigh’s works are on file at the Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College in Chicago and at the American Music Center in New York City. He is published by Burleigh Inspirations Music and Hope Publishing. He is represented by Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI), The Harry Fox Agency and CCLI and has over 100 works copyrighted in the Library of Congress. Numerous classical music dealers and Christian music retailers stock and distribute his works. Also, they may be obtained at the Glenn Burleigh Music Workshop web site at : www.glenmusik.com His music and his personality make him a favorite artist with churches, colleges, and musical ensembles across the U. S. His very unique contributions to his art are the joining together of people from different cultures, musical tastes and religious backgrounds.
Glenn Burleigh holds family and friends close to his heart. He often says : “…My grand-mother, Carvie Mack Burleigh bought me my first piano; My uncle, Rev. Isaiah Burleigh, paid for my first organ lessons; My grandfather, Rev. Henry Burleigh was my first pastor; My strongest supporters were (are) my parents Rev. Nathaniel and Iona Burleigh. Nathaniel (with whom Glenn co wrote the book “What is Man?”) baptized me at when I was eight years old…” He operates his own publishing company in Oklahoma City assisted by his brother, Kenneth.
When asked about the source of his success, he quickly replies: “Every good and every perfect gift is from GOD !”
Biographical notes by Dr. Mildred Denby Green, Professor of Music at LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee. She is also author of Black Women Composers: A Genesis (Twayne Publishers, Boston, 1983).
