Chris D. Burton is a composer of concert and handbell music. His music draws on his own performance experiences: pulling from piano literature, band, and orchestral repertoire, and blending in stylistic elements of jazz and rock. His work is often characterized by energetic passages full of rhythmic life and emotion. His music “employs the peppiness and darting interjections of Gershwin-era modernism; it’s dense and extraordinarily resourceful” (NOLA Defender, November 2013).  

 

Burton studied the art of composition under Scott McAllister, Ladislav Kubik, Forrest Pierce, and James Barnes. His String Quartet was a finalist in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition as well as finalist in the Red Note Music Festival Composition Competition.

 

Chris has rung or directed handbells since 2005. A bass bell ringer by choice, he is also a composer, cellist, clarinetist, and pianist. He holds degrees in music composition from Baylor University, Florida State University, and the University of Kansas. Chris has rung with the Baylor Bronze ensemble and Dallas’ Cast of Bronze. He currently directs the handbell choirs at First United Methodist Church in Round Rock, Texas. 

 

His first handbell publications have been released on Hope and Beckenhorst.

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