Ellis Ludwig-Leone Named EBF Composer Award Recipient

Ellis Ludwig-Leone Named Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Composer Award Recipient

Rockland, Maine – The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation is pleased to announce our 2024 Composer awardee, Ellis Ludwig-Leone. Each year the Foundation awards a $50,000.00 grant to a composer through a nation wide call for submissions. Three diverse jurors, experts in the field select the awardee who then submit a composition to be performed by our partner, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Lucas Richman. This year the jurors were: Diane Wittry, Conductor and Composer and Director of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Julius P. Williams, Professor/Artistic director/Conductor Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and Teddy Abrams, Conductor and Composer and currently Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra.

Ludwig-Leone is an American composer based in Brooklyn New York. Lauded by The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino for his “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” Ludwig-Leone writes works that combine lush, naturalistic textures with moments of thorny complexity, walking the line between joy and dread. Since coming to international attention as the songwriter behind the celebrated indie band San Fermin—with whom he has released five records, three EPs, and two live albums while touring extensively—Ludwig-Leone has spent the greater part of the last decade composing works for the concert hall and stage.

His dance-opera The Night Falls, with a libretto by Ludwig-Leone and Karen Russell (Swamplandia!), and direction and choreography by Troy Schumacher (New York City Ballet), premiered last year at PEAK Performances at Montclair State University. Praised for Ludwig-Leone’s “ingenious, gorgeous score” (The New Yorker), The Night Falls was named one of The New York Times’ Best Dance Performances of 2023.

Ludwig-Leone has composed for a wide range of ensembles and soloists, including ACME, ADAM Quartet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Attacca Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, The Crossing, Decoda, Grand Rapids Ballet, Het Gelders Orkest, Indianapolis Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, NOW Ensemble, The Knights, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Sandbox Percussion, yarn/wire, vocalist Eliza Bagg, harpist Lavinia Meijer, violist Nadia Sirota, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and more. He works frequently with choreographer Troy Schumacher, and their work has been commissioned and premiered by the New York City Ballet and BalletCollective. Ludwig-Leone has been the composer-in-residence for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and is a recipient of residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. His concert works have been recorded for Sony Classical, New Amsterdam, and Better Company Records.

His recent recordings include False We Hope, a song cycle and string quartet written for Attacca Quartet and vocalist Eliza Bagg, and Past Life/Lifeline, a collection of chamber works written for Sandbox Percussion, Lavinia Meijer, Nadia Sirota, and Eliza Bagg. Described as “a thought provoking journey across a strange and extraordinary soundscape” (OperaWire), False We Hope has had recent performances at Big Ears Festival, Birds of Paradise Festival, Við Djúpið Music Festival, and more.

Together with his bandmate Allen Tate, Ludwig-Leone is a founding partner of Better Company Records, a Brooklyn-based label with an eclectic roster and an emphasis on collaboration. Headquartered out of Better Company Studios in Fort Greene, the label has seen over 150 releases from more than 50 artists since it was founded in 2020.

Upon receipt of the award Ludwig-Leone notes: I am deeply honored to receive the 2024 Ellis-Beauregard Composer Award, and so excited for the opportunity to work with Maestro Richman and the Bangor Symphony. In fractured times, the arts can provide a sense of community and shared purpose. The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation’s commitment to these ideals and their support of artists now feels more vital than ever.
I’m proud to be a part of their mission, and I’m looking forward to joining the Bangor community.

Following the selection process the jurors commented on the choice of Ludwig-Leone:

Ellis is a deeply creative composer, a brilliant colorist, and offers a wonderfully inventive sonic imagination. I am thrilled to see what music he creates for the Bangor Symphony next season; I’m sure it will be special and illuminating! Teddy Abrams

Your compositional style will give a lively sense of energy and passion. We are glad to award this wonderful commission, Julius P. Williams. We are so excited to award this prize to composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone. He has a very creative style of writing and such an interesting use of rhythm and texture. We are very eager to see what type of piece he will write for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. The Ellis Beauregard Foundation is to be commended for encouraging and supporting the work of such talented composers each year. I was honored to be a part of the committee to review the submissions. The quality level of the compositions submitted was extremely high! Diane Wittry