About

Steven Luksan is a composer, pianist, and educator making music in Seattle, WA, USA.  He is a pianist at Seattle Opera and is the accompanist for the Seattle Mannskor (The Norwegian Male Chorus of Seattle). He is the Artistic Advisor for the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society and is the founder and artistic director of the Saltwater Music Series (Des Moines, WA), a concert series dedicated to performances of local and off-the-beaten-path chamber music.

Steven is an advocate for the performance of new and uncommon compositions and for the performance of chamber music in intimate settings.  As a composer, his output includes an opera and music for ensembles of all sizes, but he feels most at home writing for voice and piano. As a researcher, Steven's interests focus on late-19th and 20th century Nordic and American music, especially music composed by Norwegian-American immigrant composers.

Steven received a Master’s Degree in Music Composition from the University of British Columbia and Bachelor’s Degrees in Music and Norwegian Language from the University of Washington.

Projects in the 2025-2026 concert season include two performances of Luksan's opera Valparaiso (October 2025), three performances of Luksan's reconstruction of Gerard Tonning's lost opera Leif Erikson (October 2025), a concert tour of Norway (November 2025), a recital at Cascadia Art Museum (January 2026), the composition of a choral piece co-commisioned by Seattle Opera and the US Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus (March 2026), and a performance tour with Seattle Opera School Opera Tour (March 2026).

Highlights of the 2024-2025 concert season included the beginning of the touring recital program "Musical Migration" (with Laura Loge, soprano) giving 30+ performances throughout the Pacific NW, the Midwest, and Norway and receiving grant funding from the Sons of Norway Foundation and Norway's Innlandet County government. Steven also appeared as the pianist for a performance tour throughout Washington State with Seattle Opera's production of Earth to Kenzie, and made two appearances on KING FM's Northwest focus live. In February 2025, a full-length recital of his compositions was given by the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle.   

Highlights of the 2023-2024 concert season included the premiere of Steven's first opera, Valparaiso, a performance tour throughout Washington State with Seattle Opera's production of Monkey and Francine in the City of Tigers, two appearances on KING FM's Northwest Focus Live, and a revival of Alf Hurum's chamber music in both Hawaii and Washington. As a scholar, the season included Steven's presentation "Bjarne Rolseth in America: the Life and Work of a Norwegian-American Composer" at the International Edvard Grieg Society Conference (Bergen, Norway), and his research paper/lecture recital "Leif Erikson in Seattle: Gerard Tonning and Norwegian Opera in the New World" for the Society for the Advancement Scandinavian Studies.