Saxophonist | Composer | Improviser
Rob Burke is an internationally acclaimed Australian saxophonist, composer and improviser whose work spans contemporary jazz, free improvisation and experimental music. Professor of Jazz and Improvisation at Monash University, Melbourne, Rob has performed and composed on more than 300 recordings and collaborated with an extraordinary range of musicians, including George Lewis, Hermeto Pascoal, Dave Douglas, Enrico Rava, Kenny Werner, Tony Malaby, Mark Helias, Paul Grabowsky and Raymond MacDonald.
A passionate advocate for collaborative creativity, Rob’s work explores the relationships between improvisation, identity, musical interaction and the spontaneous decisions that shape collective performance. He is the founder and artistic director of the Monash Art Ensemble and President of the Australasian Jazz and Improvisation Research Network. His publications include Trust in the Art of Free Improvisation (2026) and New Directions in Musical Collaborative Creativity: The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and the Theater of Home (2025), co-authored with members of GIO’s international research network.
For GIOfest XVIII, Rob presents a specially commissioned composition, The Weight of Water, written for Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. Drawing inspiration from sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus, the piece explores how musicians’ accumulated experiences, histories and embodied musical knowledge shape the possibilities of collective improvisation. Using an evocative graphic score, Burke invites the orchestra to navigate a shared sonic landscape in which individual musical identities meet, interact and transform. Rather than viewing our musical histories as constraints, The Weight of Water celebrates them as the very resources that enable improvisers to discover new and unexpected creative possibilities.
Rob has an established relationship with Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, having previously collaborated with the ensemble on projects exploring online improvisation, musical creativity and international collaboration. His return to GIOfest continues this rich exchange between artistic practice and research, celebrating improvisation as a deeply social, creative and transformative activity.