About Jonathan Burke
Jonathan Burke is a theatrical sound designer, engineer and educator with thirty-two years of sound design and engineering experience in the UK, Hong Kong and the United States. He began his career as a teenager in England working on the BBC’s Domesday project at Cambridge University. Shortly thereafter he moved to Hong Kong, where he attended the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts.
While living in Hong Kong he worked on numerous productions, played guitar in a band and worked in a recording studio for a Chinese film company, dubbing Chinese films into English. A move to the United States led to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Jonathan continued his study of theatrical sound design and served as the resident sound designer for Pittsburgh’s City Theater Company and the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival. On the East coast he also fell in love, got married, and earned two degrees—before the long cold winters became too much and he headed west to Los Angeles, where he has lived for the last 23 years.
Jonathan is currently head of the sound design program, academic administrator and lecturer for the School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA. His designs have been heard at Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA Opera, The Geffen Playhouse, The Getty Center, Royce Hall and numerous other venues throughout Southern California. He is also owner of JABWORKS, a theatrical sound rental, design and consulting company.
