Luka Coetzee
Cello
Acclaimed by the Fanfare Magazine as “tonally, technically, and musically superb”, Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee (b. 2004) has always enjoyed the musical life combining the richness of art, travel, and performing.
In October 2023, she received the first prize at the esteemed 7th International Paulo Cello Competition in Helsinki, Finland. She is also the first prize winner of the 2022 Pablo Casals International Award and the 9th Johansen International Strings Competition. She is a top prize winner at the 8th Dotzauer International Competition for Young Cellists, the 6th UNISA International Strings Competition, the 2019 Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal Competition and the 2021 Shean Strings & Piano Competition.
In September 2022 she received the Frans Helmerson Promotional Award at the Kronberg Academy and performed as soloist with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra in the Casals Forum at the Kronberg Academy. Luka has also appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Hradec Kralove Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestre de Cannes under highly-regarded conductors such as Rumon Gamba, Giuseppe Mengoli and Ustina Dubitsky.
Most recently as part of the Pablo Casals Foundation, Luka performed at the Pablo Casals Museum in El Vendrell to commemorate the legacy of Pablo Casals and the 50th anniversary of his passing. Her upcoming performance engagements include the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra and the Kimito Island Festival.
As a member of the Echo Klassik-nominated LGT Young Soloists, Luka has performed in numerous concert halls around the world including the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin Philharmonie, the Tonhalle in Zürich, Victoria Hall in Singapore, the Rheingau Musik Festival, and at the Woordfees Festival in Stellenbosch, South Africa. In January 2020, Luka recorded and premiered a new arrangement of the Beethoven A Major Cello Sonata for cello and strings on NAXOS at the Teldex Studio in Berlin, Germany. The CD was released in November 2020 and Luka is acclaimed by the Fanfare Magazine as “sublime, with an interpretative grasp… playing of rare quality.”
Luka has also worked with distinguished artists and string quartets including Johannes Moser, Frans Helmerson, David Geringas, Nicolas Altstaedt, Jens Peter Maintz, Laurence Lesser, Hans Jorgen Jensen, the Calidore String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, and the Schumann Quartet. In November 2021, Luka attended the Rutesheim Cello Akademie where she worked with Danjulo Ishizaka and Claudio Bohorquez, and more recently she attended the Prussia Cove Masterclasses under the guidance of Steven Isserlis. An avid chamber musician, Luka participated in the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival Young Performer’s Program in 2018 and 2019. In 2023 Luka founded the Duo Osensus with Belgian pianist Nicolas Absalom.
Throughout her life, Luka has always enjoyed performing at schools, hospitals, senior homes, and community events. From 2019 until 2022 she was the Calgary Regional Director of the Back to Bach Project, “a global initiative to inspire music and arts education to young children, and to teach them the value of hard work and passion.” At the age of one, Luka had her first cello lesson with Christine Bootland. Other previous mentors include John Kadz, Johanne Perron and Horacio Contreras. Luka also started playing piano at the age of three and finished the Royal Conservatory of Music ARCT piano exam with First Class Honours under the instruction of Derek Chiu.
Luka is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar with Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
