Visionary conductor Adam Luebke is acclaimed for choral excellence. He has worked alongside many of today’s leading musicians, composers, and conductors. His work has been described by critics as “splendid” (Gramophone), “excellent” (Musical America), and “articulate, unified and vividly expressive” (Chautauqua Daily) and he was awarded the 2020 GRAMMY® Award for Best Choral Performance by peers across the music industry.
Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus since 2015, he collaborates frequently with “trailblazing” conductor JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also prepared choruses for the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, the Niagara Symphony, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, and ArtPark. Luebke has worked with conductors Rossen Milanov, Gil Rose, John Morris Russell, Carl St. Clair, Malcolm Merriweather, and Bradley Thachuk; composers Richard Danielpour, Chen Yi, Paul Moravec, and Fabio Luisi; and artists such as Hila Plitmann, Angela Brown, J’Nai Bridges, Kenneth Overton, Kyle van Schoonhoven, and Broadway veteran Liz Calloway. In August 2024, he joined seven time Grammy winner Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in a performance of his seminal oratorio, All Rise, which will be broadcast nationally on PBS.
In the 2024-2025 season Luebke will conduct the world premiere of Lee Hoiby’s A Whitman Symphony in collaboration with the Hoiby estate and sell-out performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He will also prepare performances of Mozart’s Requiem, Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, and Debussy’s Nocturnes for the 90th anniversary concert of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
This past 2023-2024 season, Luebke prepared performances of Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 with both the Niagara Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 for both the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He also conducted performances of Handel’s Messiah, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, Durufle’s Requiem, and Rheinberger’s Mass in e-flat. In 2023 Luebke made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting Vivaldi’s Magnificat and prepared the North American premiere of the Barcelona company, La Fura dels Baus’ production of Carmina Burana for ArtPark Opera.
Recent highlights also include heralded performances of Moravec’s Sanctuary Road; Mozart’s Requiem, Magic Flute, and Coronation Mass; Chichester Psalms; Verdi’s Requiem; Carmen; Carmina Burana; Brahms’ Requiem and Schicksalslied; Belshazzar’s Feast; Alexander Nevsky; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem; Porgy and Bess; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. His choirs have appeared on the nationally broadcast radio show Performance Today with Fred Child, national PBS, and on WNED Classical and WNED-TV. He has conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and appeared at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Kleinhans Music Hall, the Chautauqua Institution, and the National Cathedral.
Luebke teaches at Bowling Green State University and was most recently Associate Professor of Voice and Choral Conducting at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He received his earliest musical training at the American Boychoir School, and earned degrees from St. Olaf College, Westminster Choir College, and Florida State University. His teachers include Anton Armstrong, Joseph Flummerfelt, Andre Thomas, Andrew Megill, and James Litton.