Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Scholarship, concert organized in memory of Victoria musician

The legacy of a Victoria musician who died in an apartment fire will live on through a new scholarship program and an annual fundraising concert. Luke Rachwalski, 22, died on Jan. 10, 2014, in Montreal.
c8-1223-luke].jpg
Luke Rachwalski was passionate about music, his father said.

 

The legacy of a Victoria musician who died in an apartment fire will live on through a new scholarship program and an annual fundraising concert.

Luke Rachwalski, 22, died on Jan. 10, 2014, in Montreal. He was a member of Canvas, a touring jazz-rock band.

After his death, his parents, Terry and Maurice Rachwalski, set up the Luke Rachwalski Memorial Fund through the Victoria Foundation.

Now the family has used $5,000 collected in the memorial fund to establish a $1,000 annual scholarship, Luke’s Gift, to be administered by the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

The inaugural recipients, sharing the $1,000 prize, are Charles James Appleton and Michael Wilford. Both are 19-year-old musicians and songwriters.

“I’m just thrilled. It makes me happy,” Terry Rachwalski said.

“When you have this tragedy in your life, it’s different than when someone’s older. When they’re young, you feel an obligation to finish their legacy for them.”

A fundraising concert, LukeFest, will be staged at Alix Goolden Hall on Feb. 13. The annual concert series will raise money for the scholarship program and songwriting workshops.

Terry said she hopes the first concert will raise $25,000.

“This keeps me busy. I know I’m doing something positive. This helps our family. You have to move forward positively,” she said.

“We made a specific choice. We said: ‘We’re not going to let this destroy us. We’re going to keep going.’ ”

Luke was a singer-songwriter who played guitar, piano, bass and mandolin. One of his songs, Genie, will be performed at LukeFest.

The concert is being co-organized by Daniel Lapp, a Victoria musician who is also artistic director of the recently founded Chwyl Family School of Contemporary Music, run by the Victoria Conservatory of Music.

Some revenue from LukeFest will go toward songwriting workshops hosted by the Chwyl music school. Using non-traditional approaches to teaching, Lapp said, the school is aimed at young musicians interested in such genres as jazz, rock and folk as opposed to classical music.

Terry said supporting the Chwyl music school is appropriate because its teaching philosophy echoes her son’s musical path. Mostly self-taught, he was an exuberant free spirit.

“His personality was big — bigger than life. And he always had a smile on his face,” his mother said.

The LukeFest concert will feature professional musicians, including Lapp and the LukeFest House Band, as well as student musicians. Some of Luke’s former bandmates will perform. Terry said she will speak at the event, although it’s not intended as a memorial to her son.

“With LukeFest, because this is the first one, Luke’s story will come up. But eventually we’d like it to have its own story,” she said.

Luke Rachwalski and his three bandmates had travelled to Montreal in an old school bus with the dream of furthering their careers.

The fire broke out in an apartment in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace neighbourhood. An 18-year-old woman also died. Luke’s fellow band members had been staying next door and survived.

“They were devastated. Of course, they have survivor guilt,” Terry said.

The parents kept in touch with their son’s musician friends, who helped organize the concert. Luke’s best friend, Canvas drummer Devon Venoit, will perform at LukeFest with the house band.

Maurice Rachwalski said the Gordon Head family initially had doubts about Luke’s choice of career. Maurice is a Capital Regional District manager, Terry is a management consultant. Their 20-year-old son, Jack, is captain of the Saanich Braves hockey team.

“Our initial reaction was: ‘What’s your real job going to be?’ But he was passionate about it,” Maurice said.

“The emotion doesn’t go away. But we feel really happy to be able to be doing something.”

achamberlain@timescolonist.com