Ellis Ludwig-Leone

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BIO

Influenced by a lifelong love of storytelling and myth, Ellis Ludwig-Leone (b. 1989) writes music that is distinguished by its narrative sweep and attention to subtle changes in emotional valence. Lauded by The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino for his “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” Ludwig-Leone combines lush, naturalistic textures with moments of thorny complexity to create works that walk the line between euphoria 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 around the world—Ludwig-Leone has spent the greater part of the last decade composing works for the concert hall and stage.

False We Hope, his first album of recorded compositions, was written for Attacca Quartet and vocalist Eliza Bagg and arrived in 2023 via Better Company Records. 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. 2023 also saw the premiere of The Night Falls, a dance-opera with music by Ludwig-Leone, a libretto by Ludwig-Leone and Karen Russell (Swamplandia!), and direction and choreography by Troy Schumacher (New York City Ballet), 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, BalletCollective, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, The Crossing, Decoda, Grand Rapids Ballet, Het Gelders Orkest, Indianapolis Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, NOW Ensemble, The Knights, New York City Ballet, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Sandbox Percussion, yarn/wire, vocalist Eliza Bagg, harpist Lavinia Meijer, violist Nadia Sirota, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and more. 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.

Ludwig-Leone works frequently with choreographer Troy Schumacher, and their work has been commissioned and premiered by the New York City Ballet. Ludwig-Leone has composed eight ballets for Schumacher’s dance company BalletCollective, including collaborations with visual artist David Salle, architect James Ramsey, photographer Paul Maffi, and poets Carey McHugh and Cynthia Zarin.

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. Recently, the label released San Fermin’s In This House, featuring contributions from Attacca Quartet, Lisel, Nico Muhly, Sorcha Richardson, Thao, The Districts, Wild Pink, and Wye Oak. 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.

Ludwig-Leone has a longstanding relationship with the Við Djúpið Music Festival in Ísafjördur, Iceland, where he runs a weeklong artist residency during the summer solstice, as well as a workshop for aspiring songwriters.

During the pandemic, Ludwig-Leone worked with playwright Tony Kushner and director Ellie Heyman on The Great Work Begins, a livestream benefit performance of scenes from Angels in America. The hybrid theater/film piece, featuring Glenn Close as Roy Cohn and an original score by Ludwig-Leone, was named by The New York Times as one of the Best Theater Works of 2020.

Born in Rhode Island and raised in rural Massachusetts, he lives in Brooklyn.

Performed by frequent collaborators Eliza Bagg (Lisel, Roomful of Teeth) and the GRAMMY®-winning Attacca Quartet, and featuring original lyrics from MacArthur recipient and Pulitzer finalist Karen Russell (Swamplandia!) and poet Carey McHugh (American Gramophone), False We Hope is a meditation on faith and family, the ghostly origins of language, and the lonely vigils people keep, together and alone.

Comprised of two larger works: the song cycle False We Hope and the string quartet Speech after the Removal of the Larynx, the album’s musical and narrative elements echo back and forth like a seance, pitting the human desire for connection against the gnarled, sometimes terrifying response of the presence on the other side. The music on False We Hope was written in solitude, in a moment of disquiet and fear. But this new community of collaborators, assembled to bring the deeply relevant themes of these works to life, presents an expression of hope in an uncertain world.

LISTEN (STREAMING)

PURCHASE Album (VINYL OR DIGITAL)

Purchase score

False We Hope solo voice PDF edition available here

Speech after the Removal of the Larynx PDF edition available here

WATCH

PHOTOS

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PRESS

- New Sounds #4608: Chamber-Pop Song Cycles

“A thought-provoking sonic journey across a strange and extraordinary soundscape that almost defies description… the unsettling intensity of Ludwig-Leone’s composition, Bagg’s ghostly vocals, and Attacca’s versatility make False We Hope a place where violence and serenity walk side-by-side."

- OperaWire

“Ludwig-Leone… is actually something of a musical polyglot. On one hand, he is the indie songwriter behind San Fermin; on another, he is a composer in the contemporary classical idiom. These roles, Ludwig-Leone says, ‘come in and out of relationship. When I’m composing, I’m thinking about form, structure, networks of pitches,’ he says. ‘Songwriting comes from a more conversational place, a place of connection.’”

Ellis Ludwig-Leone: Speech After the Removal of the Larynx - The Brooklyn Rail

False We Hope is available for booking as an evening length piece.

Instrumentation is string quartet, piano, synthesizer, and vocalist. Edition scored for three voices available on request.

A stage plot with detailed tech requirements can be viewed here

CONTACT: sian@bettercompanyrecords.com

BOOKING: ryan@arrivalartists.com

In 2017, author Karen Russell, choreographer Troy Schumacher, and I wanted to tell a new story, one about people living today, by connecting opera and narrative dance together in a novel way to express both the emotional interiors and the physical exteriors of our characters. The result we titled The Night Falls. In a world craving connection and yearning for stories that reflect our lives, The Night Falls is an opera that speaks to the heart of our human experience. Opera and dance intertwine, music transcends boundaries, and voices from diverse backgrounds blend to create something truly unique.

All across America, people on the brink of despair begin to have the same nightmare; a song will not leave their heads. This dangerously beautiful music lures a group of strangers to "The Night Falls": an abandoned roadside attraction built around a mysterious grotto, the concert hall of “Florida's own Sirens.” One of these lost souls is Felisberto Robles, a Queens, NY teenager who has recently suffered a terrible loss. Night after night, he dreams of three women transformed into monstrous birds. They sing to him in his sleep, beckoning him to join them. Desperate to learn why this song is haunting him–and desperate to hear it again–Felis travels to the grotto from his dreams. When he arrives, he discovers he is not alone; many others have been lured to the water's edge. Within a group of suffering people from all walks of American life–among them an athlete whose spirit was shattered by a very public breakdown, a mother who lost her daughter to addiction, and a misanthropic python hunter–The Night Falls depicts the metamorphosis of wary individuals into a true community, and demonstrates the visceral power of art to brace us against the seduction of despair.