Matthias Schuke, 70, German organbuilder, died November 18, 2025. Born July 7, 1955, in Potsdam, East Germany, he was the son of organbuilder Hans-Joachim Schuke. He attended Polytechnische Oberschule 24 and graduated with a high school diploma. From September 1972 to June 1974 he trained as a cabinetmaker.
Then he began training as an organbuilder in the Volkseigener Betrieb Potsdamer Schuke Orgelbau, working in the wood workshop, tin workshop, restoration, and voicing departments, completing his training in 1977. Until 1985 he worked mainly in the field and in voicing. Then he began training as a master organbuilder, completing the master craftsman’s examination in 1988.
In 1990 Schuke managed to successfully reprivatise the company, founded in 1820, in the course of the reunification of East and West Germany, and he became the owner and managing director of Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau. In 1998 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work in German organbuilding. In 2003 Schuke decided to leave his small workshop in the center of Potsdam and build a new company facility in Werder (Havel). In February 2004 the company moved into the new workshop premises. At the end of November 2017 he announced that he would gradually hand over the firm to his sons Johannes and Michael.
Matthias Schuke and his company built substantial projects at the concert hall of Arkhangelsk, Russia; the cathedral of Erfurt, Germany; Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Zamora, Mexico; in the cathedrals of Magdeburg and Kalingrad; and the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Notable restoration projects include the organs of St. Stephen’s Church, Tangermünde, the cathedral of Schwerin, and the cathedral of Brandenburg an der Havel.
For information: schuke.de.
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