Lukowsky, Rolf (1926-2021) Germany

Dr Rudolf (Rolf) Lukowsky was born in 1926. He studied music from 1954 to 1956 at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. He was taught in composition by Prof. Dr Fritz Reuter, completed musicology and music history with Prof. Dr Max Schneider and Prof. Dr Walter Siegmund-Schulze, musical aesthetics and psychology of music with Prof. Dr Siegfried Bimberg. Rolf Lukowsky has not only founded and directed several youth and company choirs before and during his academic studies. Moreover, he led them to astonishing success. He became university lecturer after his studies at the Humboldt-University Berlin and started an assistantship which he completed with the doctorate in 1959. During this period, he taught students in music theory, history of folksongs and choir direction.
Furthermore, he founded the chamber choir of the institute for musical education. Within the following years, he recorded numerous choir titles for radio, record firms and television apart from his concert activities. In this way, he emerged as composer of different vocal genres, which he, regardless the level of difficulty, was able to master with his chamber choir. Thereby, it was found that this student choir was especially qualified for the interpretation of the newly-formed youth choir music. The composer has been accompanied on his way by two of his friends, Prof. Dr Siegfried Bimberg and Prof. Dr Friedrich Krell, who had formed and educated great music ensembles themselves. In 1959 Dr Lukowski received another assistantship at the Humboldt University and finished it with his habilitation in 1961.
This was followed by appointment as lecturer in music theory and as music director of University. In addition to lecturing, he founded the “Collegium musicum instrumentale” at the University. This musical association performed choral-symphonic works of the past and present time, together with the great choir, the chamber choir of the institution and soloists from the arts faculty.
At that time he wrote several choral cycles, oratorios, cantatas which he could perform with his ensembles and produce in the media. He was also commissioned to write a number of works for the Rundfunkchor Wenigerode (Radio Youth Choir Wernigerode), which were intended to be performed for certain holidays.
From 1964, Rolf Lukowsky’s activity was dedicated to compositional work exclusively. He took over the chair of the association of Berlin composers, in which he especially promoted younger colleagues. Additionally, Lukowsky was involved in many national and international expert panels as juror, adviser, consultant and conductor throughout the decades.
Rolf Lukowsky died in Bernau near Berlin in 2021.