Ellis Ludwig-Leone


Ellis Joseph Ludwig-Leone is an American composer and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2012, he has led the chamber pop group San Fermin with whom he has released four studio albums, most recently 2020's The Cormorant. Outside of San Fermin, he has composed for a wide variety of contemporary classical ensembles and organizations, including New York City Ballet, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and often works with choreographer Troy Schumacher, harpist Lavinia Meijer, Attacca Quartet, and singer-songwriter Allen Tate.
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Early life

Ellis Ludwig-Leone was born in Rhode Island in 1989 and was raised nearby in Berkeley, Massachusetts, a rural community on Massachusetts' South Coast. His parents, who are both painters and former visual arts professors, raised him and his younger sister. Growing up, he studied classical piano and was in a string of high school rock bands. He also played competitive basketball. He met future collaborator and San Fermin-bandmate Allen Tate at a Berklee College of Music summer program when they were both fifteen years old.
Ludwig-Leone subsequently studied classical composition at Yale University, from which he received an undergraduate degree in 2011.

Career

Ludwig-Leone began composing while studying at Yale, writing music for his bands and ensembles. When he was a junior, he began working as an assistant for composer Nico Muhly with whom he would an establish a lasting professional relationship. After graduating, he took part in an artistic residency at the secluded Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada, during which he wrote most of the material that would become the record San Fermin. The album was released on Downtown Records in 2013 to critical acclaim and prompted the formation of an established eight-person band which has continuously toured since that time. As the group's songwriter and producer, Ludwig-Leone has written three other records for the group, Jackrabbit, Belong, and The Cormorant I & II, among other releases.
Ludwig-Leone has written music for many ensembles including ACME, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Decoda, Fifth House Ensemble, Hotel Elefant, JACK Quartet, Metropolis Ensemble, and NOW Ensemble, and was the Composer-in-Residence for the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in their 2015 season. In addition, he has written ballets with choreographer Troy Schumacher for the New York City Ballet and BalletCollective.
In 2020, Ludwig-Leone founded the record label Better Company with Allen Tate and San Fermin manager Thomas Winkler.
Ludwig-Leone's influences include Sufjan Stevens, Miles Davis, Charles Ives, Paul Simon, Nico Muhly, Benjamin Britten, and The National.

Compositions

Listed as title artist – commissioner.
ChamberFour Short Pieces for String Quartet for JACK QuartetSuite for Flute & Harp for Lavinia Meijer and Herman van Kogelenberg – Lavinia Meijer GROW for Decoda – Við Djúpið Festival The Impulse Wants Company for American Contemporary Music Ensemble – BalletCollectiveDear and Blackbirds for Hotel Elefant – BalletCollective All That We See for Hotel Elefant – BalletCollective Invisible Divide for Hotel Elefant and Vanessa Upson – BalletCollective Until the Walls Cave In for Hotel Elefant – BalletCollective Simple Machine for NOW Ensemble – Ecstatic Music Festival Processional for a Doomed Wedding for Cecilia De Maria – Sony ClassicalNatural History for The Knights – BalletCollectiveSpeech After the Removal of the Larynx for Attacca QuartetFalse We Hope for Eliza Bagg and Attacca Quartet
OrchestraHow to Fake Your Death – Alabama Symphony OrchestraHow to Fake Your Death – Indianapolis Symphony OrchestraCommon Ground – New York City BalletShadowy Figures for Lavinia Meijer – Het Gelders Orkest
ChoirLying in a Field, Age 67 and Singing in a Chorus, Age 14 ''– Brooklyn Youth Chorus with Wild Up OrchestraBloom and Round Dance – Manhattan Choral EnsembleWho What When Where Why – The CrossingDaphne – Brooklyn Youth ChorusTo Look for Owls for Chamber Choir of Europe – Sony Classical
SoloElaborate Monument Night Loops – Lavinia Meijer and Sony ClassicalSimpler Language – Lavinia MeijerSanctuary for Simone Dinnerstein – Terezín Music Foundation
Songwriting
ScoreThe Great Work Begins - Scenes from Angels in America – Ellie Heyman, director

Discography

San Fermin

San Fermin Jackrabbit Belong ; co-produced with Peter Katis

As composer

As arranger