Composer
Excerpt from his Piccolo Pezzo, based on Tighe’s Homage to Edmundo (2020)
American composer Luke Hsu started his interest in composition at a very young age. Starting his musical education on the piano, Luke was continuously encouraged to improvise by his teachers. Eventually, this path led to composing. He studied orchestration with Pierre Jalbert and music theory with both Anthony Brandt and Karim Al-Zand.
Mainly self-taught as a composer, Luke finds inspiration from the dynamic language of Lutosławski and Webern, and he hopes to write music that carries this tradition forward into the 21st century. Luke’s compositions have been performed in Boston’s Jordan Hall and Brown Hall, by musicians such as Donald & Vivian Weilerstein, and in Salzburg via TV broadcast. Luke’s compositions have also been featured many times in Kim Kashkashian’s series and social initiative, Music for Food. Festival appearances include a recent premiere at the K&MFest Stavanger in the Stavanger Konserthus.
Most of Luke’s compositions currently consist of chamber music works. However, Luke still continues to improvise, acknowledging this as the inspirational root for his compositions and his artistry.