Burnett Thompson has allowed music to draw him into countless corners of the planet, from the mountains of Yunnan, China, the mews of London, cellars of Vienna, medinas of north Africa, and back to the alleys of Beijing. He has collaborated with Lorin Maazel, Arturo Sandoval, Alex Blake, the Manchester String Quartet, cellist Han-Na Chang, and directed a host of remarkable concert series, including Castleton in Performance, Hill Center Concert Series, Jazz on Jackson Place, the Foggy Bottom Chamber Ensemble, and Piano Jazz at the Arts Club. Recent projects have included Autumn in Yunnan, ethnic music of southwest China, and Reformation, a fresh take on 15th century secular and sacred music of middle Europe. Burnett played a large role in exposing Chinese jazz and traditional performers to the American audience.

Roberta's first recording was with the Lionel Hampton band, in addition to collaborations with David Liebman, Benny Golson, Valery Ponomarev, Rufus Reid, Ben Vereen, and her husband, the renowned drummer Billy Mintz. Tours have taken her to Japan, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Spain.She is a regular performer at the Blue Note, Birdland, and Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Smalls, and Mezzrow, and appeared three times on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz radio show.

Roberta launched the Nabokov Project, setting poems of Vladimir Nabokov to music for piano, violin, mezzo-soprano, percussion, and speaker. The project was presented in New York, Prague and Vienna to rave reviews.

Roberta has taught at the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, Cal Arts, Duke University, the Northwestern University Composers’ Colloquium, and other schools in the U.S., Europe and Japan.