The young conductor and choral director Alexander Lüken is assistant to the WDR Radio Choir, and artistic director of the Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke and of the prize-winning Junger Kammerchor Köln, which he founded, and which is dedicated to the performance of a cappella music.
He works regularly with Chorwerk Ruhr, taking rehearsals for conductors such as George Benjamin, Adam Fischer, Iván Fischer and Kent Nagano. He has also appeared as a guest artist with the RIAS Kammerchor, Det Norske Solistkor, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra and the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy.
He is especially interested in complex new works and seldom-performed music. He conducted the first recording of the Christus trilogy by Mendelssohn’s contemporary Friedrich Schneider, which was rediscovered more than 150 years after its creation; the recording’s first part was nominated for an OPUS Klassik in two categories.
As a singer, Alexander Lüken works with Chorwerk Ruhr and Det Norske Solistkor and is a substitute with the RIAS Kammerchor and the SWR Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble.
Alexander Lüken studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Cologne University of Music and Dance with Marcus Creed and at the University of Music Franz Liszt in Weimar with Jürgen Puschbeck and Ekhart Wycik. He also completed a degree in Latin at the University of Cologne. He has augmented his training through masterclasses with Anders Eby, Alois Glaßner, Florian Helgath, Volker Hempfling, Grete Pedersen and Morten Schuldt-Jensen. He is an alumnus of Cusanuswerk. He won the prestigious Eric Ericson Award for young choral conductors in Stockholm in 2024.
