FLYNN, LUKE (b. 1988)

Composer Luke Flynn (born 1988, Dubuque, Iowa) had a musical career which began very early in life. Luke taught himself to play the trumpet at the age of seven and began his musical training one year later. By the age of 10, Luke was the principle trumpet player for the national-traveling youth jazz band, Caboose. His other musical instruments include trumpet, piano, guitar, many world instruments (such as the Japanese koto and shyakuhachi, and the Chinese hulusi), and many others.

 

Beginning to compose and write music in his high school years, Luke decided to promote his music by touring across America with his rock band, VeraSun, before entering a university. Prior to touring with his band, Luke studied composition with Dr. Amy Dunker at Clarke University, where he became the recipient of the Pauline Mathis Pfohl Leadership Award and the Ruth Bethke Fine Arts Award. Luke has also had the privilege of being the first American student to study music composition at the University of Kagoshima in Japan where he studied with Dr. Tadashi Kubo. He has had mentoring experiences with renowned composers and conductors, eg. Drs. Michael Schelle, Timothy Salzman, and Stanley DeRusha.

 

Many of Luke's compositions have been performed in multiple states and countries including commissions in Japan and South Korea and featured at national and regional Society of Composers, Inc. conferences.

 

A great interest in theater and film scoring has motivated Luke to compose scores for a variety of plays. His score for Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice" was granted the 2011 American College Theater Festival merit for best original score.

 

His choral score, "Beneath the Wave," a threnody piece for the victims of the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake in Japan, which is set to his own original text in Japanese, was the winner of the 2012 San Jose Choral Project Composition Competition.