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March 2005: Brian Luckett

Guitarist Brian Luckett Prepares for March/April Emory Guitar Fest Performances and Residencies

Classical guitarist Brian Luckett, Emory Department of Music Artist Affiliate, will join Atlanta Symphony flutist Carl David Hall for an evening of contemporary music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Astor Piazzola, Carlo Domeniconi, Joaquin Rodrigo, and Luckett on April 8 at 8:00 p.m. (Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall). Luckett and Hall’s performance is one of the 15 events that make up the 2005 Emory Guitar Fest, which begins on March 6 and ends on April 28. The Fest concludes with a performance by the Emory Guitar Ensemble directed by Luckett. The festival also features 2005 Emory Coca-Cola Artists in Residence Eliot Fisk, Mundell Lowe, and Sergio and Odair Assad with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. Luckett will join visiting artist Fisk during one of Fisk’s concerts in a rendition of Fernando Sor's Fantasie, Op. 54 (March 11, noon, Carlos Museum).

“There is a lot of interest in the Southeast in Guitar Fest, with such well known names as Eliot Fisk and the Assads … this will be a huge, exciting festival,” says Luckett. Luckett has been working with the Schwartz Center, fellow faculty, and artists to help plan and promote the diverse programs that will offer enriching opportunities for the community and his students.

A respected and talented guitarist, Luckett has been playing since age 4, when he picked up his older brother’s guitar. “I actually don’t remember not playing the guitar,” he says. His supportive parents recognized his gift early on and started him in guitar lessons, which he continued until he was in his early teens. “Like a lot of kids, I wanted to be a rock guitarist. I gave up formal lessons and started playing in rock bands. Only in college did I come back to classical.”

Luckett studied in his home town at the University of Louisville's School of Music with Douglas Jones, head of the school’s classical guitar program. He earned the school’s first guitar performance degree. “I got focused at the University of Louisville, but then I really got very much focused when I studied for my master’s at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music [CCM],” says Luckett. He was awarded a full scholarship to CCM, which has one of the most rigorous guitar programs in the country. “It was very intense,” he says, “My work at CCM set the course for my career, and also introduced me to Jeffrey Van.”

Luckett met acclaimed guitarist and composer Van when they served on the faculty of CCM’s summer guitar workshop. “Jeff recruited me to pursue my doctorate at the University of Minneapolis, where he is on the faculty. He is a phenomenal guitarist and composer.” Luckett says he endured the Minneapolis winters to work with Van for about five years. “But when I went to a competition in Charleston, I called my wife and told her, 'we’re moving back to the South.' So we packed up and moved here, and I started sending out resumes. Emory was one of the first to call.”

In the four years he has been in Atlanta, Luckett has become one of the most in-demand classical teachers in the area. Not only does he teach guitar for Emory’s music department, but he also teaches a weekly class at Agnes Scott College. “I’m also teaching adult ed classes at Evening at Emory,” says Luckett. “It’s a nice change for me. These are adults who just want to have fun.”

He is a frequent performer as well. Recent performances have paired him with Emory Artist Affiliates Jody Miller, recorder, and Carl Hall, flute. Other performances have included a Schwartz Center Opening Festival concert, an Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta Noontime Series event, and numerous solo recitals. He has been featured in many programs on both National Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio and has premiered several new works for the guitar, including a concerto and several chamber works. His recently recorded a solo CD, Serenades of the Unicorn, features the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara and Nikita Koshkin. In addition to performing, Luckett is an occasional composer and has had several original guitar works premiered in Cincinnati and Minneapolis.

Luckett, his wife Kelly, and their two dogs live in Decatur. The Lucketts can be spotted running through their neighborhood as they train for full and half-marathons.

Written by Nancy Condon
Communications Coordinator
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts

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