About the Artist
Organist Diane Luchese freelances as an organist/choir master in the Baltimore region. As a concert artist she has performed recitals throughout the east coast, with early music [medieval to Bach] and contemporary works as her primary focus. Her 2015 recording released on the Raven CD label, Light and Dark and In Between, was conceived to serve as a time capsule capturing a sample of the present world of the pipe organ, featuring representative contemporary music played on four different styles of pipe organs in Baltimore City. This CD has garnered positive reception. In July 2016, Diapason Magazine reviewer David Wagner called it "a brave recording" further writing "It just might be, however, one of the most interesting and challenging recordings of music conceived for and played on the organ that you may ever own in your collection."
In 2009 Luchese performed John Cage's Organ2/ASLSP in a l5-hour uninterrupted marathon performance at Towson University, becoming the first individual to perform Cage's work over such an extended time scale. She performed the work again in 2012, Cage's centennial birth year, at the nief-norf Research Summit held at Furman University. On June 30, 2017-July 1, 2017, Luchese also performed an 11-hour realization of this work at Leeds Cathedral in England as part of the Performing lndeterminacy lnternational Conference.
Diane Luchese is a Professor of Music Theory at Towson University, where she has been employed since 1999. Her scholarly research interests include counterpoint; pedagogy as informed by cognition research; rhythm, time and motion; and the musics of Bach, Hildegard, Messiaen, and Ligeti. Accordingly she has presented papers at numerous conferences, which include meetings of the Society for Music Theory, the International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies, the First International Congress on Messiaen Studies, the International Congress on Medieval Studies, the Symposium on Music and Nature at Syracuse University, and the Bridges International Conference. In 2010 she contributed a chapter to Olivier Messiaen: The Centenary Papers, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Her articles have been published in Sonus and The American Organist.
Before earning her Ph.D. in music theory from Northwestern University, Luchese completed Master of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory in both music theory and organ performance, and a Bachelor of Music in organ performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was awarded the Bronson Ragan Memorial Award for Excellence in Organ. Her organ teachers include Yuko Hayashi, Frederick Swann, and Paul-Martin Maki. She also studied music composition privately with M. William Karlins and Robert Cogan.
Diane Luchese currently resides in Baltimore City and enjoys cooking vegan meals, hiking, and exploring the cultural landscape of the city.
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