“Known for her especially pure tone, flexible technique, and passionate performances,” (Artslandia) flutist Amelia Lukas performs with “a fine balance of virtuosity and poetry.” (The New York Times) A Powell Flutes Artist and resident of Portland, Oregon, “[Lukas] excels at bringing drama and fire to hyper-modernist works with challenging extended techniques.” (Oregon ArtsWatch) Weaving together globally informed stylistic elements with an impressive range of extended techniques, Lukas offers an original, modern, and compelling voice.
“Lukas builds community when she performs.” (Oregon ArtsWatch) Her acclaimed solo show, Natural Homeland, offers a timely, tour de force program of music for flute, piccolo, alto flute, and electronics “that draws expansive connections around ideas of shelter, belonging, and freedom, all offered through Lukas’ riveting performance.” (The Islands’ Sounder) In addition to performances of that program throughout the West Coast, her recent engagements include solo appearances with Chamber Music Northwest, Makrokosmos, United for Ukraine, Portland Japanese Garden, Fear No Music, March Music Moderne, Kenny Endo, Portland Taiko, World Beat Festival, Leach Botanical Garden, the Astoria Music Festival, Music in the Woods, Cascadia Composers, the New Music Gathering, Performance Today, and for All Classical Portland’s live radio broadcasts, with additional performances for the Oregon Bach Festival, Portland Piano International, TedX Portland, SoundsTruck NW, Friends of Chamber Music, 45th Parallel, Oregon Music Festival, Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival, and Bridgetown Orchestra. She is the Principal Flautist with the Portland Chamber Orchestra.
During her time living in New York City, Amelia was a member of the American Modern Ensemble, Ear Heart Music Ensemble, Trio Kavak, the Nouveau Classical Project, Ensemble Sospeso, Arkora, Opera Cabal, TACTUS and the NeoLIT ensemble, and performed frequently with counter(induction, the American Composers Alliance, and Columbia Composers. In addition to performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Stone, Bargemusic, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Subculture, Roulette, and New Music New York Festival, past projects include flute fellowships at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Orford Sound Art Festival.
Lauded for her “considerable technique” (The New York Times), Lukas is a member of Fear No Music and has worked with many notable living composers including Joan Tower, Kaija Saariaho, Mario Davidovsky, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, Tania Leon, Thomas Svoboda, Robert Patterson, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kenji Bunch, Lewis Nielson, Mikael Karlsson, Angelica Negron, David Schiff, and Texu Kim. Lukas was one of two flutists in the inaugural class of thirteen musicians to earn Master's Degrees in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 2009, and graduated on The Dean’s List. She holds a Bachelor's Degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London where she received three prizes for musical excellence. Her greatest mentors include John Heiss, Trevor Wye, Kate Hill, William Bennett, Patricia Morris, and Tara Helen O’Connor.
In addition to her performance work, Lukas is an inspired communications expert and modern production pioneer, driven to enrich and strengthen artistic communities. She specializes in maximizing the impact of artistic work, creating audiences who are more deeply connected to and engaged in the arts. She is the Principal and Founder of Aligned Artistry, which offers sophisticated public relations consulting services to Portland artists and arts organizations, now considered “the gold standard for arts consulting in Oregon.” (Kenji Bunch, composer) In 2020, she joined the Board of Directors for Chamber Music Northwest, serving on a task force that helped the organization transition to a successful virtual season during the pandemic which became a model for festivals across the country. Lukas also founded (2009) and for six seasons directed the “impressive (and)… feisty contemporary-classical concert series” (The New York Times) Ear Heart Music, which “arrived as a major cultural resource in the city,” (New York Arts) and was touted by Time Out New York as “scintillating… phenomenal programming… impeccably curated… (and) truly original.” Her speaking engagements include both the Chamber Music America and Dance USA conferences, as well as Philip Glass' MATA Festival. She has previously served on the Boards of Directors for The Walden School and Opera Cabal, and on the advisory board for High Concept Laboratories.