Jupiter native Riley Burke, 30, fully intends to be an EGOT winner. Considering only 21 people hold the distinction of winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, Burke has big ambitions. Still, with an impressive history of achievements, the sky’s the limit for this local artist.
As a child, Burke excelled at two different talents: music and basketball. “At 6 years old, I had a friend who was taking violin lessons,” says Burke. “I told my mom, ‘I want to do that.’” At the same age, she discovered basketball. Burke pursued both passions through grade school and at Bak Middle School of the Arts, studying the Suzuki violin method and playing sports. “In eighth grade, I got the award for Best Student Athlete,” she says.
She went to The Benjamin School so she could play high school basketball and continue playing music. Her English teacher invited her to join his student-teacher rock band called The Perry Feyk Project. “He put a Bruce Springsteen chart in front of me and told me to play. That expanded everything for me,” she says.
Burke graduated as valedictorian and was recruited to play basketball at Columbia University. She had mixed feelings. “Part of me knew I was done, but it was my lifelong dream to play college basketball.” Her freshman year was a struggle. “I ended up quitting mid-season, so I never set foot on a college basketball court during a game. It was a shattering exit, but it gave me permission to pursue my arts career.”
With her future now clear, Burke started composing music. “That English teacher in high school unlocked some composer instincts and, in college, music just started spilling out of me.” It was the beginning of what would evolve into her first album.
Burke graduated from Columbia University in 2018 and eventually went on to earn a master’s degree in film scoring at New York University in 2021. “It was an incubation period,” says Burke. “It really goes back to storytelling.”
Three years later, Burke would share her own stories on her 2024 debut release Reconfiguration, an album she describes as “a coming of age reckoning with a bunch of things in my twenties.”
This past October, she was part of a series showcasing emerging musical talent at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. Burke recruited local musicians to play with her in a 10-piece band. Jupiter Music, Jupiter Academy of Music, and the Palm Beach Symphony all pitched to find talent. “I had these seasoned musicians who rallied around me,” says Burke. “It was so meaningful and magical and spoke to the nature of Jupiter. I felt very connected to the community where I grew up.”
Burke’s show, titled Dare to Be Present, featured songs from her debut record and stories from her life. “A huge theme of the album is how do we get out of our own way and deal with our trauma and become embodied,” she says. “I think the task of being human is being present.”
Burke is now based in New York City but maintains ties locally through serving on the board of Grace Notes Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization that brings music education to underserved youth and people with disabilities in Palm Beach County. She continues to develop the show, play music, and make new stories. “There’s a time for living and there’s a time for making art, and in order to make art you have to be part of the world,” says Burke. Not surprisingly, basketball is still part of her world. She is currently coaching a high school basketball team.
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