Iain Burnside is one of the top vocal accompanists in the UK, having worked with many of that country's most prominent singers. He is also a broadcaster and a playwright. In the early '80s in Scotland, while accompanying an oboist friend in concert, Burnside was heard by tenor Peter Pears, who said that he needed a pianist for a class he was giving on Britten's songs. Burnside offered his services and was hired. He made his recording debut in 1990, backing singers Stephen Varcoe and Adrian Thompson on an album of songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ivor Gurney. Burnside went on to accompany various singers, including Roderick Williams and Susan Chilcott, whose son, Hugh, he adopted after Chilcott's death. Burnside returned in 2023 on the album The Jade Mountain: Songs by Edmund Rubbra and backed tenor Elgan Llyr Thomas on the album Unveiled.