About

Hailed as “outstanding,” with a “street-smart, feline voice” (The New York Times), Meaghan Burke (she/her) is a cellist, singer, songwriter, and composer working in spaces between contemporary music, improvised music, and songwriting. Her compositions and songs explore relationships between sound, storytelling, and the body, seeking new possibilities for care in performance and listening.

Meaghan is a founding member of The Rhythm Method, a contemporary, feminist, “trailblazing” quartet of “skillful composer performers” (The New Yorker) praised for its “stunning displays of fearsome extended technique and fearless programming.” (New York Music Daily) She’s also the lead singer and cellist of avant-grunge band Forever House, a member of Viennese songwriting collective Loose Lips Sink Ships, and an actively performing singer/songwriter solo artist.

Meaghan is a frequent guest performer with many of NYC’s contemporary ensembles, including International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK Ensemble, and S.E.M. Ensemble, as well as Miho Hazama’s Grammy-nominated jazz chamber band m-unit, of which she is an original member. She was a member of the Muhal Richard Abrams Trio with the late, great composer-pianist himself, and has collaborated closely with composers such as Anaïs Maviel, Paul Pinto, inti figgis-vizueta, Alvin Singleton, Lewis Nielson, John Zorn, Butch Morris, and many, many more. She was also honored to be the vocal soloist in Alex Temple’s monodrama ‘Three Principles of Noir’ with American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 2018. As an improviser, she has worked with such artists as Erik Friedlander, Greg Saunier (of Deerhoof), Angelica Costello, Jessica Pavone, Fred Sherry, Lucy Shelton, and Marco Eneidi.

As a composer, Meaghan’s work has been commissioned by MATA Presents, Austrian Cultural Forum NYC, Spark and Echo, the Byrne:Kozar Duo, and The Rhythm Method. She was artist-in-residence at The Foundry in West Stockbridge, MA, developing her ‘Wandering Womb' project, and is currently at work on her fourth album of songs.

Meaghan’s most recent album with The Rhythm Method, “A Few Concerns” (Gold Bolus Recordings) was described as “a smart, feisty album that is both provocative and a pleasure to listen to...a culminating work...not to be missed.” (I Care If You Listen) Meaghan has released two additional albums of her songs: the lush chamber folk of “Creature Comforts” (2017), and her stripped-down debut “Other People’s Ghosts” (2010). 

Teaching has always been a cornerstone of Meaghan’s artistic practice. In addition to maintaining a private cello studio, she is currently on faculty at the United Nations International School. She previously held teaching positions at the North Carolina Governor’s School, P.S. 9, and the Harmony Project, and was a Fulbright Teaching Assistant to Austria from 2006-2008.

Meaghan is also an avid writer and translator; her translation of Peter Ablinger’s Now! Writings 1982-2021 was published by MusikTexte in 2022. Meaghan’s esteemed teachers have included Fred Sherry, Bernard Greenhouse, Lucy Shelton, Ole Akahoshi, and Christoph Stradner. She holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program, Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna, and Yale.