After graduating Tashkent Conservatory in 1968, Michael Burshtin returned to Frunze (now Bishkek) and joined the Kyrgyz State Institute of Arts, where he taught piano and accompaniment, he led a chamber ensemble, and taught composition. The young musician was a very active performer, not only as a soloist, but also as a collaborative pianist with many well-known musicians in the republic, including instrumentalists and singers. Burshtin’s composing flourished in this period, his experimental style blending modern techniques with the preservation of folk themes and Kyrgyz national culture. In the first few years after graduation, Burshtin composed such striking works as the Symphonic Poem, Concertino No. 1, the Second Symphony, Triptych for the Spiritual Quartet, as well as two piano concertos and numerous popular pieces and arrangements. Speaking of Burshtin’s Symphony No. 2, music critic Bogdanova wrote in the magazine Soviet Music, “The second movement pulls you in with the unity of mood, the refinement of the lyrics, and the restoration of Kyrgyz folklore’s beauty. The third movement is a picture of a national holiday. Dancing and skillfully developed rhythmically active melodies are the basis of this music. Rhythmic sophistication is one of the features of this composer’s style.” Burshtin frequently used elements of Kyrgyz folk tunes, metro-rhythm, and the features of formation in his compositions, most prominently in his beautiful piano sonatas, the Aphorisms Suite, and his brilliant transcriptions of the folk tunes, Kyrgyz Kyy. 

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Michael Burshtin also had a very active career as a performer and was one of the leading pianists in Kyrgyzstan at the time. He played not only in Kyrgyzstan, but also in almost all the republics of the former USSR, both as a soloist and as an accompanist. He worked with leading soloists of the Kyrgyz National Opera on concert tours, such as H. Mukhtarov, E. Moldokulova, K. Sartbaeva, just to name a few. Burshtin’s wide-ranging solo repertoire included compositions by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Shchedrin, and others. Burshtin also actively performed works by Kyrgyz composers of various genres, from instrumental pieces and ensembles to operas, ballets, and symphonies. “He had no equal in the performing arts,” recalls the composer V. Roman. Michael Burshtin proved to be not only an excellent virtuoso, but also as an original interpreter, with a truly unlimited range of performed music of different styles and directions.

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In the 80s and early 90s, Burshtin continued writing in a variety of styles, composing such works as the orchestral "Kyrgyz Etudes" and "Jewish Dances," Marches for brass band, Concertino for cello and string orchestra, piano and violin sonatas, and instrumental pieces were born. He continued to compose for piano, his favorite instrument. Among many creative aspirations, one of the distinguishing powers of Burshtin's music is the incorporation of Kyrgyz folk music into his compositions. He once said of his music, “by blood I am Jewish, by language Russian, by musical language [as a composer] I am Kyrgyz.”

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Burshtin's music is modern in form and content, consonant with the pulse of the time, and is recognizable by its characteristic sound. It is dynamic, sometimes tough, but always expressive. The composer's works have been repeatedly performed by the leading musicians of the republic, and many of them are still kept in the Golden Fund of the Kyrgyz Broadcasting Corporation. Burshtin's works have been and are being performed far beyond the borders of Kyrgyzstan, and were published in Moscow at the All-Union Publishing House "Soviet Composer," as well as in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan), Leningrad ( St. Petersburg, Russia), Kiev (Ukraine), and other cities. Twenty collections were published, and in 1988, the publishing house "Kyrgyzstan" published an author's collection of the composer.