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The Canadian tenor and plucked string instrumentalist, Kerry Bursey, obtained his Masters of Music degree in Classical Guitar from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal; and has studied Early Music Voice Performance at McGill University (September 2018-2020), where he studied with Dominique Labelle and Suzie LeBlanc. He served as a violist in the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes de Montréal, also performing as a guitar soloist in the famous Concierto de Aranjuez and went on tour in China. He was a prize-winning finalist at the 2011 Grand Prix de guitare de Montréal and the Concours de Musique de Sorel.
Kerry Bursey is an early music specialist and a versatile singer, he is acclaimed for his “clear voice, made of dreamy troubadouresque sweetness” (Ôlyrix) and “beneficent tenderness” (Le Temps). He is a sought-after lutenist and guitarist, notably invested in self-accompaniment, from lute songs to early and folk music of northwestern traditions. Recently, he made his European debut as a soloist at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Manchester International Festival, Bregenzerfestspieler and the Southbank Centre. In 2024, he will sing at the Muzikgebouw in Amsterdam and at the Ruhrtriennale.
Kerry Bursey regularly works as a soloist with Canadian early music groups such as Ensemble Caprice, Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, L'Harmonie des saisons, Theatre of Early Music (Director: Daniel Taylor), Arion Baroque Orchestra, Les Idées heureuses, La Nef, La Chapelle de Québec, Alkemia, Pallade Musica, Infusion Baroque and Clavecin en Concert. He has participated in Tafelmusik’s Baroque Summer Institute and he specialized in the music of J.S. Bach in Germany and Italy through the Stuttgart Bachakademie and the Weimar Bachkantatenakademie. He tours internationally with his ensemble, Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. As well as being as soloist, he is a seasoned ensemble vocalist singing regularly with groups such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Rugissants, I Musici, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul Choir. He has featured on almost a dozen albums with labels including ATMA Classique and Deutsche Grammophon. In 2021, he was appointed as the new tenor of Quartom, the leading classical male vocal quartet in Québec.
On the popular scene, Kerry Bursey is hired as a session musician and creative collaborator because of his broad musical output, from pop to video games. In 2020, he composed and performed the entire soundtrack of an award-winning film, 444, a psychological thriller that premiered at the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival in Montréal, and worked on the sci-fi movie Mistral Spatial. He frequently works with Ubisoft and notably sang Gregorian chants as a monk in the latest installment of the famous video game Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. |
