The School of Performing Arts at Reinhardt University will present a concert commemorating Dr. George Lucktenberg and his illustrious career on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015, at 3 p.m. at the Falany Performing Arts Center on Reinhardt’s campus in Waleska, Ga.
Lucktenberg, who served as Reinhardt artist-in-residence from 1995 to 2012, passed away on Oct. 26, 2014. During his tenure with Reinhardt, he was an active performer, teacher, clinician and author. The concert is offered to the public free of charge.
Musicals selections will range from the Renaissance through Contemporary periods
“This memorial concert will give honor to Dr. Lucktenberg’s legacy as a performer and teacher and will celebrate his contributions and his devotion to the advancement and creation of fine art music,” said Dr. Fredrick Tarrant, the dean of Reinhardt’s School of Performing Arts. Musicals selections will range from the Renaissance through Contemporary periods and mostly feature pieces that Lucktenberg performed with current and former music faculty, and guest musicians from the community. His daughter, Kathryn Lucktenberg, will perform on violin, and his children, Ted Lucktenberg and Judy Arrants, will also be in attendance. Friends, colleagues and alumni will share comments remembering the passion he showed for his craft, as well as his eloquence, enthusiasm and dedication for excellence.
Lucktenberg concert performers include current and former music faculty, and guest musicians from the community
Performers will include Joe Lozier and Laura Lozier, piano duet; Emily Laminack, violin; Diliana Slavova, piano; Deborah Scarazzo, flute, and Susan Naylor, piano; Reverie Berger, mezzo-soprano and Pam Radford, piano; Carol Wazlavek, harpsichord; Ashley Craig-Diaz, piano; Reinhardt University Piano Trio and Miriam Smith, violin, Nan Maddox, cello, and Diliana Slavova, piano; Allison Blackburn, clarinet and Janelle Hendrickson, piano; John Morgan, bass, Clark Hunt, trumpet and Susan Naylor, piano; and Marcena Kinney and Diliana Slavova, piano duet, and Kathryn Lucktenberg, violin. Lucktenberg’s Steinway and harpsichord will be used during the concert.
Lucktenberg’s extensive career with traditional and historical stringed keyboard instruments gained him international recognition
Lucktenberg’s extensive career with traditional and historical stringed keyboard instruments gained him international recognition for performance, teaching, promotion of the instruments and their literature, and organizational leadership. Over the lifetime, he also collected historical keyboards, and at one point, his collection included 26 instruments.
He initiated and developed programs for historical keyboard studies at every level, notably for 52 summers at the Interlochen Arts Camp (Mich.) and in professorships in Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia; those, and study grants from the Fulbright Commission and Ford Foundation, formed his richly varied background. He also gave numerous solo and ensemble recitals and was a frequent judge of performance competitions.
Reviews of his concerts include critical acclaim, including newspapers in Atlanta, Washington, and New York City (a Carnegie Hall solo debut). After his 1987 concert in New York, the New York Times review included, “Mr. Lucktenberg performed throughout with gusto, combining emotional involvement with a strong sense of rhetorical direction. A seasoned player, he tossed off trills and runs with unpretentious ease, and his fluid sense of timing served him well with the complex rhythms in both Baroque and Contemporary fare.”
He was the founding president of the South Carolina Music Teachers Association (SCMTA). In 1980 he founded the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society (SEHKS) and assumed direction of the Aliénor Awards for new harpsichord composing. His coordination of those two programs in the Southeast attracted worldwide attention through contest, publishing, and research activity.
He served as coordinator of keyboard studies at Converse College (S.C.) for 30 years. He then taught at Clayton State University (Morrow, Ga.) for four years before coming to Reinhardt as artist-in-residence in 1995. During his time at Reinhardt, he continued to perform, teach, hold clinics and write. He was also an adjunct professor of piano at Georgia State University. He brought groups such as members of the Atlanta Music Club and the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society to Reinhardt for demonstrations and professional meetings, and he enjoyed sharing his historical keyboard collection with students of all ages.
His publications include numerous articles in national magazines and journals devoted to music teaching, as well as several editions of masterworks for both pedagogical and concert use. He innovated study-tours of European and American museums featuring historically important antiques, resulting in a book, Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums (co-authored by Edward Kottick, Indiana University Press), published in 1997. He continued to stay active in music organizations, including Georgia Music Teachers Association, Cherokee Music Teachers Association, Georgia Music Educators Association, and Atlanta Early Music Alliance, where he presented annual workshops, lectures, and recitals.
He performed throughout the United States and gave two or three solo and collaborative recitals and lecture-demonstrations every year at the college or university where he was currently teaching. He was featured as a presenter at the SCMTA State Convention in 2001, the Annual Meeting of the Southern Chapter of The College Music Society in 2001, the Cherokee County Arts Council in 2002, the Georgia Music Teachers Association State Conference in 2003, the Georgia Music Educators Association State Conference in 1997 and 2005, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Atlanta in 2006, and the SEHKS Annual Meeting in 2006, to name a few. In 2009, he served on the faculty of the Georgia International Music Festival, a cultural exchange program of The People’s Republic of China and The State of Georgia, sponsored by The Atlanta Virtuosi, Juan Ramirez, Founder and Artistic Director.
He performed with the Reinhardt University Symphony Orchestra on two occasions, and presented his final public concert on Feb. 17, 2013, in the Falany Performing Arts Center. After retiring from Reinhardt in 2012, he moved to Spartanburg, S.C., where he gave concerts for the residents in his retirement community in 2013 and 2014.
