Born in Linz, Austria, Lieske made his concert debut at 14 in the famous abbey on the Scottish island of Iona. Works by Bach and Villa-Lobos figured in the program together with improvisations and compositions by himself. Wulfin Lieske went on to study at the state music school in Cologne, playing electronic guitar alongside classical, and amassed his early performing experience in very contrasting fields, which demanded great stylistic versatility on the one hand and on the other hand stimulated in him the curiosity which has influenced his work ever since. Today, as guitarist and composer, he is among the leading international musical personalities in his field. His conception of music-making opens up completely new insights into traditional guitar music. Lieske's playing is full of sensitivity, with finely-chiseled detail and a vast spectrum of dynamics and coloring, combined with complete mastery of his instrument. The guitar as conveyor of the Mediterranean love of life, regularly combined with a well-chosen Latin-American repertoire perfectly within the instrument's tradition, appears again and again in his programs. In addition Wulfin Lieske likes to give the “old masters” their due. He therefore took an intensive interest in the legendary guitar maker Antonio de Torres and made a crucially important contribution to the rediscovery of the old Spanish guitar. The closest possible identification between performer and instrument, music and physical context, is created, going beyond stylistic boundaries and epochs and awakening a unique emotional need for the sound of the guitar and its chameleon-like ability to draw on all styles. This becomes apparent in his many CD recordings.
To date he has worked with outstanding artists such as Gidon Kremer, Astor Piazzolla, Juan José Mosalini and the Hilliard Ensemble. In 1994 he founded the quartet “Bronsky Ritual”, with which he has performed contemporary chamber music and thematic program cycles, sometimes enhanced by imaginative lighting. His repertoire covers a span from Bach to free improvisation. In his solo recitals he likes to highlight the contrast between popular music in the border area between classicism and the folk traditions of Latin America and Spain on the one hand and the pioneering works of old and new music on the other.
As a composer Wulfin Lieske draws from “the wealth of possibilities” offered by his instruments. They have made him experiment with the human voice, different instruments, with motion and with the elements; his music alternates constantly between “expressivo” and “meditativo”. Examples are compositions such as “Cinq tableaux sur Schubert”, “Nymphéas” d'après Claude Monet or “Taqsim” I - III and “Luxor Guitar Concerto” for amplified guitar, percussion and string orchestra. In 2000 his oratorio “Über den Wassern” was premiered at the Hanover Expo with the Hilliard Ensemble and the performance artist Saddia.
Wulfin Lieske has devoted himself to combine old traditional instruments with the guitar, thus developing quite new tonal pattern – here with Willam Barton, the world's leading didgeridoo player, or with the Mongolian vocalist and morin khuur (horse-head fiddle) player, Fu-zhu Meng, on a future CD.
Since 2007 works with guitarist Fabian Spindler. Just recently “lieske-spindler-guitars” recorded the famous historical transcriptions of work by the Catalan Isaac Albéniz on two Torres-guitars to be released by Challenge Records for the 150th anniversary of his birthday in 2010.
Web: http://www.wulfin-lieske.de/english/nav1_artist_bio.html (2012)

Chitarrista e compositore tedesco, Wulfin Lieske completa gli studi a Colonia iniziando una carriera sia come solista sia in formazioni cameristiche e in questi ultimi anni si dedica anche alla scrittura musicale per il proprio strumento e per altri organici. (Seicorde n.88, 2006)