Besides violin and viola, Caleb's principal instruments are guitar and piano. He is also an active countertenor. He is a regular member of groups including Alarm Will Sound, Bleknlok, Escort, itsnotyouitsme, Newspeak and Signal. His compositions benefit from the synergy of writing for people he plays with, and his performances of other works draw on his insights as a composer. His works have often been commissioned and premiered by the ensembles with which he plays, including his setting of Psalm 118 for mixed choir, children's choir, brass, and organ, commissioned by Trinity Church, Wall Street for Easter 2008; his arrangement of John Adams's Coast from the album Hoodoo Zephyr, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Alarm Will Sound and premiered by AWS at Carnegie Hall in 2006; and his oh ye of little faith... (do you know where your children are?), commissioned by Lincoln Center for the re-opening of Alice Tully Hall and premiered by Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound in 2009. Other compositions include An Advent Song, commissioned by Trinity Wall Street and premiered in 2008 by Robert Ridgell and the Trinity Wall Street Choristers; In a distant place, commissioned by the Bloomingdale School of Music and premiered in 2008 at Christ and St. Stephens Church by Clay Greenberg and students of the Bloomingdale School of Music; and Amidst Neptune, commissioned by Brad Lubman and premiered by Brad Lubman and Eastman's Musica Nova at Kilbourn Hall in 2003. Amidst Neptune was also performed at the Whitney Museum in 2006 by Alan Pierson and Alarm Will Sound as part of Steve Reich's 70th birthday celebration and at Carnegie's Zankel Hall by Alan Pierson and AWS in a concert curated by John Adams.

 Burhans has also received commissions from the Albany Symphony, clarinetist Bill Kalinkos, Dogs of Desire, the JACK Quartet, Janus, the King's Park High School String Orchestra, mezzo-soprano Abby Fischer, percussionist Payton MacDonald, Scalene, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York, the Tarab Cello Ensemble, trombonist James Hirschfeld, violinist Yuki Numata, violists John Graham, Eric Nowlin, and Nadia Sirota and the Westminster Choir College.