On Friday, February 20, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse hosted a performance by Dashon Burton in Annett Recital Hall in the Truman Lowe Center for the Arts. Accompanied by Dr. Lindsay Garritson on piano and UWL Associate Professor of Music Dr. Jonathan Borja on flute, the performance was the first of three guest artist showcases that will be put on under the ArtsFest Advance! series.
“ArtsFest Advance! is the name that I…gave to…the artist series that leads into ArtsFest,” said Director of the School of Visual & Performing Arts (VPA) Pete Rydberg.
Rydberg explained that each spring, the VPA puts on a series of events called ArtsFest that showcases what students and faculty in the VPA are working on. In preparation for ArtsFest, guest performers are brought in earlier in the semester during ArtsFest Advance! so students are able to engage in both series.
However, it wasn’t always this way. Rydberg said that the guest artists had previously all been scheduled for the same weekend, making it difficult for people to attend the events and interact with the artists.
“If we want to get really, really great artists like [Burton], we need to work with their schedule and their availability,” said Rydberg. “We can really focus in on each artist coming to campus and really give them the spotlight that we think people of their prominence should have.”
Burton opened his performance with “The Vagabond” from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel and was later joined by Borja for Scott Perkins’ Three Songs for Autumn before moving into Margaret Bonds’ Three Dream Portraits, a three-movement piece based on Langston Hughes poems.
“I started singing early in a very simple way, with choirs around town and just trying to hang out with friends. My choir teachers would say ‘Hey, you have a really unique voice, you should try to do this…’ and I, being young, would say, ‘Ok!’” said Burton. “The most inspiring thing was just being with friends and learning to listen to music and being an all-around choir geek.”
An accomplished vocalist, Burton won his first and third Grammy awards with the ensemble Roomful of Teeth in 2013 and 2024. In 2021, he won his second Grammy for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for his performance in Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison with The Experiential Orchestra.
“Winning a Grammy is the most surreal thing in the world. I got to be completely stunned and amazed and then also be very proud to have brought my mother to witness such an amazing culmination of her love and support for my whole life,” said Burton. “And then the next day, we were back to work…”
Receiving a Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College & Conservatory and a Master of Music at Yale University, Burton is also an assistant professor of voice at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music.
“Being a professor is a really great privilege, and it can also be a very unusual way to live! I sit in a medium sized room and help people discover how to make sounds that they never knew they had,” said Burton.
Burton continued, “Combine that with hopping on a plane to go to a new place with lots of friendly people and in need of a particular kind of balance, and you find that the life of a performer comes down to balancing energy and voice. Or it can be much more mundane and making sure my rehearsal schedule is updated and that I have the right pair of pants. It can be a very up and down field, but the most important thing is that I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
In addition to the performance Friday night, Burton was also on campus for an open forum and to work with choral students, giving several opportunities for engagement over the course of the day.
“I was very grateful to Dr. Jonathan Borja and the entire music department for the visit to the [VPA] – speaking to students around the world is such a gift. I can’t wait to tell all of my friends about my wonderful visit!” said Burton.
Other ArtsFest Advance! guest artists include Travis Head on March 26 and Broadway performer Charissa Bertels on March 27. ArtsFest itself takes place April 23-26 and includes a jazz combo concert and jam session, the senior art student exhibition, an upcoming theatre production and performances from symphonic band and wind ensemble.
“I hope that [people] have a top-notch aesthetic experience. That has value in and of itself,” said Rydberg. “If we don’t give conscious effort to carve out a time and place for those artistic experiences, we all get caught up in…our routines.”
To keep up with Burton and his music, you can visit his website and follow him on Facebook.
