"Nothing short of alchemy."
The Sunday Times on 'A Live Flame (in memoriam John Smith MP)', 1995

"Messianic, mystical, visionary."
Independent Magazine Profile on Eternal City for massed brass, 1994

"Acclaimed composer, Keith Burstein....has managed to turn his story into a play with a little help from actors Corin Redgrave and Tim Pigott-Smith."
The Independent - Pandora diary column item on the play The Trainer (about Burstein's Manifest Destiny court case), April 2009

"Manifest Destiny is a truly important achievement: brave, exciting and committed."
actor and human rights campaigner Corin Redgrave, describing Manifest Destiny in The Independent

"Burstein's atmospheric melodious neo-classical score... with a tango for torture and a waltz for the Oval Office."
The Observer on Manifest Destiny, 2004

"A contemporary master of tonality."
Hampstead & Highgate Express - music critic David Sonin on Burstein's Symphony No 1 'Elixir' (1st Movement), June 2006

"Keith Burstein, one of Britain’s best known composers, foresaw the truth."
Sude Deutsche Zeitung on Manifest Destiny, 2004

"Truly amazing music... unforgettable."
Edinburgh Guide Review on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"As in the greatest operatic works, tonal resolution and emotional closure come hand-in hand."
Scotland on Sunday on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"Burstein is an ardent new romantic post-modernist."
The Daily Telegraph, 1994

"Prophets are, of course, famously disregarded in their own land."
Independent Magazine Profile, 1994

"Terrorist opera set to storm theatre world."
The Observer headline on Manifest Destiny, 2003

"Operatic themes do not come more epic than this..."
The Scotsman on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"Affecting, bold, potent and packed with melodic invention."
Scotland on Sunday on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"Rigorous and high-minded with a story in the environs of Greek tragedy... one admires Keith Burstein's ambition."
Daily Telegraph on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"Dignified and beautiful."
The London Evening Standard on A Live Flame (in memoriam John Smith MP), 1995

"British opera breaks new ground."
Reuters headline on Manifest Destiny, 2004

"Political, prescient and unmissable."
The Sunday Telegraph on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"The music rotates gently on an axis of largely consonant harmonies, lifting stray phrases high above the main architecture (some lovely work outs for solo trumpet)."
What's On Magazine on Eternal City, 1991

“My soul cries out"
Vanessa Redgrave, actress and human rights campaigner, interpreting Manifest Destiny's ethos in The Independent 2004

"His compositions... seem to be dreaming backwards, as buildings might dream back to their beginnings."
Misfit City music webzine on Day Release Records' CD of Burstein's piano music, 2000

"A brave, touching and timely work."
Scotland on Sunday on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"A powerful piece, powerfully performed. Political opera is a very rare bird, even today, and this piece is one to be cherished."
British Theatre Guide on Manifest Destiny, 2005

"A witty and surprisingly melodic neo-classical score... Manifest Destiny is a considerable piece of work dealing with important themes that demands to be heard."
Sunday Herald on Manifest Destiny, 2005

“Manifest Destiny', a new opera in the works about American global power..."
Los Angeles Times quote from a survey of new political theatre, 2004

"This most experimental of operas, the first truly political opera this side of the seventies."
Camden New Journal on Manifest Destiny, 2004

"If opera is not to tackle such issues, then what?"
Peter Sellars (renowned director/co-originator of Nixon In China, The Death of Klinghoffer) commenting on Manifest Destiny on BBC 2’s Newsnight, July 2003

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All music is copyright 1989-2006 by Keith Burstein and may not be used for commercial purposes without the author's consent.

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