Born in Byram, Mississippi in 1973, Sean Burns came to music late, spending most of his early years studying history and drama. He caught the music bug in high school, playing French Horn in his high school band and becoming student conductor in his junior and senior years. This led to winning academic and music scholarships at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport, Louisiana where Sean studied Theory and Composition. While at Centenary, Sean composed numerous works performed by school ensembles and members of the Shreveport Symphony. In 1995 he had his professional conducting debuts, serving as the offstage conductor for performances with the Shreveport Symphony of Mahler’s Second Symphony and with Shreveport Opera of Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
Sean moved to Boulder, Colorado in 1996 to study conducting at the University of Colorado, where he studied conducting with Allan McMurray and opera coaching with Robert Spillman. While at CU, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Lyric Theater Festival, CU’s summer opera program, where he earned high praise for his conducting of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. In the summers of 2001 and 2002, he was a Conducting Fellow at the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada.
In the early 2000’s, Sean was seen in numerous Guest Conducting concerts throughout the United States, Russia and Romania. He was a Music Director Finalist for several orchestras, including the Monroe Symphony Orchestra, the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra, and the Pikes Peak Philharmonic. Sean also worked with numerous local community orchestras such as the Lone Tree Symphony Orchestra, the Timberline Symphony Orchestra and the Longmont Symphony Orchestra.
From 2005-2010 he served as Music Director at the Church of Holy Ghost in Denver, Colorado, where he conducted the weekly Latin Choral Mass and special concerts of large sacred choral works and recorded a CD of the Mozart Coronation Mass and other works.
The demands of a growing family and other personal issues led to Sean taking a break from professional music making in 2010.
Currently, Sean works full-time as an Acquisition and Divestiture Consultant in the Oil and Gas Industry while living with his wife of 23 years, Meaghan, in Centennial. They have four daughters: Kathleen attends Washington Law School at American University, Mary is studying animation at California College of the Arts, Anna is a vocal performance major at Metro State University, and Emily is a first-year student at the University of Northern Colorado where she is an early childhood education major.
Despite taking some time off away from the professional music world, Sean still enjoys playing piano (especially Bach and Mozart) and accompanying/coaching his daughter Anna in vocal lessons and recitals. During the recent pandemic lockdowns he arranged Mozart Piano Trios and Quartets for the family to play together on their various instruments. He is also an avid reader, a student of history and political science, and classic movie buff. Sean enjoys board gaming and is the founder and organizer of the Denver-based GMT Gaming Society and can also be found exploring the various golf courses in Colorado.
