Sandy Burnett

Biography

Sandy Burnett is one of the UK’s most authoritative broadcasters in the field of classical music. His broadcasts, interviews, and lectures are all underpinned by the hands-on experience of being a practising musician.

Since 2017, Sandy has been an accredited Arts Society lecturer, his talks aimed at unlocking the worlds of classical music and jazz to general arts-loving audiences; his busy diary of speaking engagements takes him right across the world. After spending a season as the Academy of Ancient Music's Hogwood Fellow, in the spring of 2020 he set up an online Listening Club to explore great works of classical music; conceived as a lockdown project, it has built up an enthusiastic and loyal following.

After studying at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and working as music director for the RSC, National Theatre and in London’s West End, Sandy spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3; his broadcasting work was admired and appreciated by many classical music lovers. His many credits include the flagship breakfast programme Morning on 3, live Proms, concerts from the Edinburgh International Festival, countless studio broadcasts and interviews with classical music’s top artists.

He has broadcast and recorded for RTÉ’s Lyric FM and Radio 1, Wigmore Hall, Linn Records, Intermusica, and the City of London Festival, while live onstage he has lectured and hosted events for many leading music organisations including Wigmore Hall, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the London Jazz Festival.

As conductor he masterminded a complete performing cycle of Bach's sacred cantatas, a mammoth enterprise spread over thirteen years; this has led to workshops with St Andrews Voices and an innovative Bach Cantata Discovery Day for the Valletta Baroque Festival. As double bassist he performs chamber music at the annual Burton Bradstock Festival, and plays in the Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra, the Peter Rudeforth Sextet, Blue Harlem, and the Friday night house band at the Chelsea Arts Club in West London.

Sandy leads cultural tours to music festivals everywhere from New Orleans to Leipzig, and Bath to Budapest.