Kerry Bursey is a Canadian tenor and plucked string instrumentalist from Montréal. An early music specialist and a versatile singer, he is acclaimed for his “clear voice, made of dreamy troubadouresque sweetness” (Ôlyrix) and “beneficent tenderness” (Le Temps). He is a sought-after lutenist and guitarist, notably invested in self-accompaniment, from lute songs to folk music.  Recently, he made his European debut run as a soloist at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Ruhrtriennale, Manchester International Festival, Bregenzerfestspieler and the Holland Festival.

 

He regularly works as a tenor soloist or instrumentalist with Canadian early music ensembles such as l’Harmonie des Saisons, Ensemble Caprice, Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Toronto Consort, Theatre of Early Music, Rosa Barroca, les Idées Heureuses, la Nef, Pallade Musica, Infusion Baroque and Clavecin en Concert. He tours internationally with his ensemble, Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. They notably completed a pancanadian tour of all of provinces and territories in 2024.

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Kerry is frequently hired as a session musician and creative collaborator because of his broad musical output, from pop to video games. He composed and performed the soundtrack of  award-winning thriller,  444, which premiered at Fantasia Festival, and worked on the sci-fi movie Mistral Spatial. He frequently works with Ubisoft and notably sang gregorian chants as a monk in the game Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. 

 

Kerry holds a masters’s degree in classical guitar from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and has studied voice performance at McGill University. He was a winner at the 2011 Grand Prix de Guitare de Montréal.