Charles H. Luedtke ------------------ Charles H. Luedtke was born of German parentage in Hutchinson, Minnesota (MN), in 1941. At the age of four he moved with his family to Minneapolis where he attended public schools, graduating as the valedictorian of his senior class from Central High School in June of 1959. In the fall of the same year he enrolled in the College of Science, Literature, and the Arts at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and was granted a Bachelor of Science with Distinction degree by the College of Education in the spring of 1963, having majored in English Education and minored in both German and Mathematics. He enrolled in the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota immediately and completed a Master of Arts degree in August, 1964, with a major in Curriculum and Instruction and minors in English and Educational Psychology. He returned to the University of Minnesota in succeeding summers and, after a year's residency, completed in the summer of 1970 a Master of Fine Arts degree in organ performance. The Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, accepted Mr. Luedtke as a doctoral candidate in the summer of 1971. His doctoral dissertation, the topic being approved in the summer of 1974, was completed and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree conferred in May of 1988. Charles Luedtke began private piano study at the age of seven with Grace Gunderson and continued with Rumohr Gamm. During his high-school and early college years he commenced private study of the pipe organ, first with Bertil Anderson and then Dr. Paul O. Manz. Throughout his high-school and college years Mr. Luedtke was also a regular participant in the wind-band programs of the schools he attended. His organ instructors at the graduate level were Dr. Heinrich Fleischer, Professor of Music and University Organist at the University of Minnesota, and Dr. David Craighead, Professor of Organ and Chair of the Keyboard Department at the Eastman School of Music. At the age of 14 Charles was asked to assume the duties of principal organist at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, a post he held continuously for over 30 years until relinquishing the position in January of 1987. While the organist at Pilgrim, he served as the rehearsal and service accompanist for the adult choir under the direction of the sainted Ralph R. Ledin, and for some years also directed a high-school-aged choir of 24 voices. In the fall of 1964 Mr. Luedtke signed a contract with Dr. Martin Luther College (DMLC) in New Ulm, MN, and began his career as an organ instructor. In 1996 the Board of Control of DMLC extended the undersigned a divine call and, in the fall of 1974, converted his title to that of Professor of Music. During his 35-year tenure at DMLC Professor Luedtke taught, in addition to a full complement of approximately 20 organ students at all levels of proficiency per week each semester, survey and period courses in music history and music theory, directed the college Chorale, and assumed full responsibility for reorganizing and conducting the wind-band program at the college as Director of Bands from 1966 to 1977. In the spring of 1990 Dr. Luedtke resumed the directorship of the college non-keyboard instrumental music (band) program, conducting the Symphonic Concert Band and the Wind and Percussion Ensemble in concerts until the close of the 1997-1998 academic year, during which years DMLC merged with Northwestern College of Watertown, Wisconsin, to form an amalgamated Martin Luther College on the New Ulm campus. Throughout the years of his professional activity in New Ulm, Dr. Luedtke has served on a number of pipe organ installation projects, the most notable being the two-manual, Daniel Jaeckel instrument at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New Ulm, installed in 1981, and the J. W. Walker (United Kingdom) three-manual-and-pedal, 41-rank pipe organ built in 1997 for Peace Lutheran Church in Hutchinson, MN. Since June, 1975, Charles Luedtke has been an Associate in the American Guild of Organists and currently holds a dual membership in the Twin Cities and the Sioux Trails chapters of the Guild. In 1992 Dr. Luedtke was nominated and elected Dean of the Sioux Trails Chapter which draws its membership from three municipalities in south-central MN and surrounding areas. As Dean of the chapter it was his privilege to act as the Director for a very successful, week-long Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) summer camp for high-school-aged youth in 1995 (and is doing so again in the summer of 1998). Thirty-three young men and women participated in the activities of the workshop designed to introduce students who possessed fundamental piano performance skills to the world of the pipe organ. The Sioux Trails Chapter also regularly sponsors a summer-series of noontime organ recitals at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mankato, MN, as well as other events during the year. Dr. Luedtke has performed in these concerts as well as in programs and chapel services on the Martin Luther College campus and as a guest organist off-campus. He is currently one of the appointed organists at St. John's Lutheran Church in New Ulm. In the summer of 1997 Dr. Luedtke joined with the Minnesota Center Chorale from the St. Cloud, MN, area in its European tour and accompanied the group in concerts in Berlin and Prague and other cities. He served as the festival organist for the American Choir Festival concert held in the famed Leipzig Gewandhaus on that tour. A tour of a similar nature with similar responsibilities is planned for the summer of 1999.