Adam Luebke was appointed Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, the principal chorus for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, in 2015. Since that time, critics have hailed the chorus as “in top shape,” “virtuosic,” "splendid," “articulate,” “energetic,” “soaring,” and “joyous.” He is also Assistant Professor of Voice and Conducting at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
He has worked with conductors JoAnn Falletta, John Morris Russell, Carl St. Clair, and Rossen Milanov; singers Hila Plitmann, Angela Brown, and Kevin Deas; and composers Richard Danielpour and Fabio Luisi. He was chorusmaster for the East Coast premiere performances and world premiere recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshuafor Naxos and for the world premiere of Fabio Luisi’s St. Bonaventure Massat the Fuentidueña chapel at the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Recent highlights include heralded performances of Verdi’s Requiem,Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Bizet’s Carmen. He has led the BPC in collaboration with Lehrer Dance, Irish Classical Theatre Company, Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, SUNY Fredonia, and Houghton College. He has also prepared choruses for the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. He made his Buffalo Philharmonic conducting debut in 2015, and has also appeared with the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Oratorio Society, the National Chorale at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center, and at the Chautauqua Institution. As a chorister, he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, and Spoleto Festival USA opera chorus under Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Andre Previn, Neville Marriner, Nicholas McGegan, Marvin Hamlisch, and Robert Shaw.
A devoted music educator, Luebke maintains an active schedule as a clinician for choral workshops, festivals, and honor choirs. At SUNY Fredonia, he has taught studio voice and choral conducting; and conducted the Camerata, College Choir, and Masterworks Chorus. He has also served as director of choral activities at Houghton College and Waldorf University. Former students are employed as conductors with the Boston Children’s Chorus, Nazareth College (NY) and Northwestern University (MN); and have been accepted into elite graduate conducting programs, as a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, and as a semi-finalist for the National ACDA Graduate Level Conducting Competition. He has presented and published research on vocal techniques for choral rehearsals, stylistic rehearsal techniques, and performance practices for Renaissance repertoire.
Luebke received his earliest musical training at the American Boychoir School, and holds the BM from St. Olaf College, the MM in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College, and the PhD in choral conducting and music education from Florida State University. His teachers include Joseph Flummerfelt, Anton Armstrong, Andre Thomas, Andrew Megill, and James Litton.