Lindan Burns joined the San Francisco Opera in 2024. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Misha Amory and Hsin-Yun Huang under the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship. She performed as a Principal Violist of the Juilliard Orchestra, competed as a Finalist in the 2024 Viola Concerto Competition, and served as an Ear Training Fellow for two years, teaching ear training levels I, II, and III. She has shared the stage with Steve Tenenbom and Paul Watkins of the Emerson String Quartet, and performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, National Sawdust, and the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse in Lincoln Center.

An avid chamber musician, Burns has attended numerous festivals including the Young Artist’s Program National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Castleman Quartet Program, Perlman Music Program (“Littles”), Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Yellow Barn Young Artist’s Program, Taos School of Music, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and HIMA USA. She has also performed in Juilliard’s Spring 2023 Chamberfest.

Passionate about interdisciplinary arts, Burns has enjoyed collaborations with innovative artists including Juilliard Creative Associate Nadia Sirota, Mike Block and Preeti Vasudevan of the Silkroad Ensemble, Broadway director Ted Sperling, Rajana Ghatak, and composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Libby Larsen, Juhi Bansal, and Aidan Gold, from whom she commissioned and premiered a work for viola and movement. In February 2023, she was invited to appear as the Video Performing Artist for The New Series: Terry Riley’s In C, a multi-media concert through Juilliard’s Center for Innovation in the Arts featuring students from Juilliard NYC and Tianjin, and most recently, performed Tania Leon’s “Ritmicas” in Juilliard’s 2024 Commencement Ceremony.

Outside of music, Burns enjoys reading, rock climbing, ballroom dancing, hiking, and horseback riding.

Lindan is grateful to past teachers Linda Reams (violin), Kendra Law (violin), Susan Brown (violin), Scott Cole (violin), Clarisse Atcherson (violin), Kimberly Fitch (viola), Brian Quincey (viola), and Helen Callus (viola).