A native of Banner Elk, North Carolina, violinist Cynthia Burton joined the Charlotte Symphony in 2023. She was previously a member of the Louisville Orchestra (2020-23), where she appeared on the Grammy Award-winning album, The American Project. She was also a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra from 2018-21.
In recent years, Cynthia has spent her summers performing with LAMF, the Britt Festival Orchestra and Charlottesville Opera. Additionally, she has served as a substitute musician with North Carolina Symphony, and has held fellowships at Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and the Britten Pears Orchestra. She is an alumna of New World Symphony, where she appeared in a wide variety of principal and small ensemble roles, and participated as a coach in New World's exchange program at the Academia Filarmonica de Medellin in Colombia.
After earning a Masters of Music from San Francisco Conservatory, she freelanced in the Bay Area, performing with the California Symphony, Marin Symphony, and One Found Sound, a conductorless, musician-run chamber orchestra. She also taught in the Community Programs Division of the Crowden School in Berkeley. Cynthia received a Bachelors of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as part of the inaugural class of Kenan Music Scholars. In her free time, Cynthia enjoys hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains or wherever her travels take her.