Life
David was born in Hlinsko, Czech Republic, but spent his entire childhood in Vysoké Mýto, the hometown of his family. Thanks to his mother, a singer and the director of the Elementary Art School in Vysoké Mýto, music became an integral part of his life from an early age. He studied violin and received his first lessons in composition from Professor PaedDr. Zdeněk Berger. During this time, he wrote his first compositions, and at the age of 17, he conducted the school orchestra in a performance of his Romance for Strings.
He graduated from the State Conservatory of Music in Prague with a degree in orchestral conducting. Alongside conducting, he pursued private composition studies, consulting with composers and professors such as Otomar Kvěch, Radek Rejšek, Jiří Pazour, and the aforementioned Zdeněk Berger. He also studied numerous scores across musical eras to develop his compositional technique. He became the first and only private student of the renowned Czech composer Sylvie Bodorová.
David is openly gay and lives with his husband in Vysoké Mýto.
Conductor
During his studies, David Lukáš collaborated mainly with semi-professional ensembles and youth orchestras. After graduating, he began conducting professional orchestras. His professional debut came in 2007 with the Talich Chamber Orchestra in a concert of Czech contemporary music.
From 2008 to 2013, he served as chief conductor of the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague (BSOP), with whom he gave many successful performances. He also recorded the soundtrack for the Czech feature film 3 Seasons in Hell. With BSOP, he toured across most of Europe and Japan, also working as tour manager and assistant orchestra manager.
Since the 2010/2011 concert season, David has been the chief conductor of the Litomyšl Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, he also became the choirmaster of the mixed choir "Bendl" in Česká Třebová.
Composer
David’s first compositional successes came during his early years at the Basic Music School in Vysoké Mýto. While working at a music camp, he met American composer and publisher Joel Blahnik, who later published five of David’s string works through Alliance Publications, Inc. In 2002, he conducted the world premiere of his Rhapsody for Symphony Orchestra with the Litomyšl Symphony Orchestra. During their 2004 USA tour, the children’s choir "Rubínek" from Vysoké Mýto performed his Missa Brevis. His melodrama The Dark Night was presented at the International Festival of Concert Melodrama in Prague in November 2009.
His orchestral work Des Cauchemars et des Rêves was awarded 3rd prize at the prestigious International Gustav Mahler Composition Competition in Vienna in 2010 (with over 260 entries from 30 countries). The piece premiered on October 8, 2011, performed by the ORF Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Peter Eötvös and was broadcast by ORF Radio.
On December 13, 2012, his symphonic poem The Dreaming of Stone Amore with Broken Wings premiered with the North Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Teplice, conducted by Charles Olivieri-Munroe.
In November 2014, David was awarded for his composition The Nativity of the Light for large symphony orchestra at the Czech Philharmonic’s composers’ competition. The prize was awarded by chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. The piece was scheduled for performance during the 2015/2016 season by the Czech Philharmonic. Two more works, Mother Soul for violin and piano, and Stabat Mater, premiered in the same season. Both were written in response to the premature passing of his beloved mother. His chamber works are regularly performed at the "Days of Contemporary Music" festival in Prague.
In 2017, David composed Ballad of the Troll Nacken and the Violinist, a solo violin piece selected as a compulsory contemporary composition for the international violin competition of the Prague Spring Festival.
He has also collaborated with Smetana’s Litomyšl, the second-largest music festival in the Czech Republic. For the festival, he completed and orchestrated a suite of film melodies by Ennio Morricone and arranged various orchestral works.
His first dramatic work, a musical-operetta titled Hey You, Kujeba, written for a student ensemble, premiered successfully in 2018.
Style and Identity
Over time, David’s music has developed a distinctive voice. Rooted in neo-Romanticism with a modern 21st-century spirit, his compositions are deeply connected to Slavic folk music traditions. He embraces melody and tonality, but always incorporates contemporary musical elements. Rhythm plays an important role in his work, contributing to his personal musical language.
David identifies as an LGBT+ artist, and many of his compositions reflect, support, or are inspired by this community. He embraces Gustav Mahler’s credo:
"It is always the same with me; only when I experience something do I compose, and only when composing do I experience!"
He has collaborated with a number of leading instrumentalists, including Josef Špaček, Miroslav Sekera, Jana Boušková, and Hedvika Mousa Bacha.
His dreams include composing a full-scale opera and writing a film score.