Born in Florida, William Burden completed his master's degree in Vocal Performances at the Indiana University, where he studied with the late Margaret Harshaw. William Burden has appeared in concert with Les Arts Florissants, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, at the Edinburgh Festival and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (with Sir Simon Rattle), as well as in the States with the Philadelphia, Minnesota, Florida Philharmonic and Houston Symphony orchestras. He has performed in opera for the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Phildalphia, Florida Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera and Saito Kinen Festival, and in Europe with the Opera de Paris, Opera de Bordeaux, the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, La Monnaie, Brussels, Bavarian State Opera, Munich, the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin, the Teatro Real, Madrid, and Teatro alla Scala, Milan.