Laura Lutzke, Violin
Violinist Laura Lutzke leads a musically versatile career, enjoying a wide variety of ensemble collaborations and travels. Born and raised in New York, she earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School as a student of Lewis Kaplan. She then completed a second graduate course in Violin Performance with Distinction with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She fell in love with leading an orchestra when she served as Concertmaster of the New York Youth Symphony from 2004 to 2007 under Paul Haas, performing repertoire ranging from Mahler symphonies to "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Strauss. Her playing has been described as "liquid, radiant and shimmering, with beautifully played solo lines" by The New York Times.
As a soloist, Laura has performed with the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra in Philadelphia, the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Symphony, and the Santa Fe Pro Musica chamber orchestra in New Mexico. She has given recitals on the Belz-Parker Artists Ascending concert series in Memphis, Tennessee, at the Bowdoin, Caramoor, Great Mountains and Holland Music Sessions international music festivals, the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove in the UK, The Juilliard School, Kent State University, Klavierhaus in New York City, The Lausanne Academy, the Wave Hill Mansion in Riverdale, NY, and at Weill Recital Hall.
As an avid chamber musician, Laura was one of the "Rising Stars" at the Caramoor International Music Festival, collaborating with artists such as Atar Arad, Pamela Frank and Arnold Steinhardt. In the summer of 2012, she was chosen to be a "Bowdoin Virtuoso" at the Bowdoin International Music festival, performing and teaching alongside musicians such as Frank Huang, Lewis Kaplan, Mikhail Kopelman, Kurt Muroki and Paul Neubauer. Having regularly attended the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, UK since 2006, she joined their Autumn Tour in 2010 and their South West Tour in 2017. She currently performs at festivals such as Cervo Chamber Music in Italy, FitzFest in London, and Classical Tahoe near Lake Tahoe.
Laura is a current member of the critically-acclaimed American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), performing and touring in the US and abroad. As a freelancer, she makes regular appearances with The Knights, the New York CIty Ballet, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Wordless Music Orchestra, among others. She has been lucky enough to collaborate with artists such as Alarm Will Sound, Björk, Gabriel Kahane, Johann Johannsson, Max Richter, Low, The National, Paul McCartney, Roomful of Teeth, Theatre of Voices, and Yann Tiersen.
As a deep lover of historical performance and early music in general, Laura currently holds the Co-Concertmaster position of Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, a Classical period orchestra based in France under conductor Jeremie Rhorer, taking part in symphonic and opera projects in Paris, Aix-en-Provence, as well as multiple summer festivals in Germany. She also plays with Teatro Nuovo, a historical opera company based in New York CIty, focusing on Bel Canto.
In her spare time, Laura enjoys practicing yoga, drinking coffee, and hanging out with cats.
Photo by Aleks Karjaka