Biography
Ellis Ludwig-Leone has forged a singular career as both a celebrated contemporary classical composer and the creative force behind the band San Fermin. Praised by The New Yorker for his “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” Ludwig-Leone writes music that balances warm, organic textures with moments of complex detail, focusing on the psychological space where wonder and dread meet.
Since first gaining international attention as the songwriter and leader of San Fermin—whose 2013 debut led to national television appearances and a devoted global audience—Ludwig-Leone has maintained a prolific dual practice. His works have been performed by world-class institutions including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the New York City Ballet, with recordings released on Sony Classical, New Amsterdam Records, and Better Company Records. A recipient of residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, Ludwig-Leone was named the winner of the 2025 Ellis-Beauregard Composer Award.
His stage and chamber catalogue includes the dance-driven opera The Night Falls, a collaboration with librettist Karen Russell (Swamplandia!) and choreographer Troy Schumacher that was praised by The New Yorker for its “ingenious, gorgeous score” and named one of The New York Times’ Best Dance Performances of 2023. Ludwig-Leone’s concert discography highlights deep, long-standing creative partnerships with some of today's most adventurous performers. His song cycle False We Hope, written for the Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet, soprano Eliza Bagg, and Ludwig-Leone on piano and synthesizer, was praised by OperaWire as a “thought-provoking journey across a strange and extraordinary soundscape” before appearing at international festivals including Big Ears Festival, Birds of Paradise Festival, November Music Festival, and Við Djúpið Music Festival. In 2024 he expanded this catalogue with Past Life / Lifeline, an EP featuring works commissioned and performed by harpist Lavinia Meijer, violist Nadia Sirota, and the percussion quartet Sandbox Percussion.
In August 2026, Ludwig-Leone released Ludwig-Leone: Quiet Hours via Better Company Records—a collection of nine nocturnes written for and performed by nine celebrated pianists (including Timo Andres, Aaron Diehl, Simone Dinnerstein, David Kaplan, Lisa Kaplan, Dan Schlosberg, and Adam Tendler), each recorded on the artist’s own “home” piano. Upon release, a feature on the album in The New York Times prompted a surge of interest in the project; subsequently, Ludwig-Leone organized a concert featuring eight of the nine pianists, which will be presented by Death of Classical in New York City in Fall 2026.
The 2025–26 and upcoming seasons mark a period of major premieres and interdisciplinary collaborations across North America and Europe. Highlights include The Woods, an immersive concert experience created with BalletCollective (Troy Schumacher, director) that enjoyed a sold-out run at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works, and In This House, performed by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra, in an arrangement by Nico Muhly. Other recent and upcoming performance milestones include North Woods, commissioned by the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra; Life After Death, an orchestral program with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra featuring the world premiere of The Visitor, written for orchestra and soprano Eliza Bagg; Start at the End, a chamber portrait concert and premiere of a new work for Eighth Blackbird; and premieres of new works for pianist Simone Dinnerstein, pianist Lara Downes, and brass quartet The Westerlies. Overseas, the Netherlands' November Music Festival hosted an evening of his chamber works with harpist Lavinia Meijer and the ADAM Quartet; Goran Stevanovich will premiere “A Breathing House,” a new work for concert accordion at Beethovenfest, followed by the release of a subsequent commercial recording on Berlin Classics; and Dutch string quartet ADAM Quartet tours his most recent string quartet “Exquisite Corpse” following their release of a commercial recording of the piece.
Ludwig-Leone is a co-founder of Better Company Records alongside San Fermin bandmate Allen Tate. Headquartered out of Better Company Studios in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the label emphasizes collaborative, multidisciplinary artist support and has overseen more than 200 releases across 50 artists since launching in 2020.
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, Eighth Blackbird, Grand Rapids Ballet, Het Gelders Orkest, Indianapolis Symphony, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Metropolis Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, The Knights, Orchester im Treppenhaus, Sandbox Percussion, yarn/wire, vocalist Eliza Bagg, harpist Lavinia Meijer, violist Nadia Sirota, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, clarinetist Seunghee Lee, accordionist Goran Stevanovich, harpist Chelsea Lane, and pianist Simone Dinnerstein.
He 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.
In 2020, 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, in support of amfAR's Fund to Fight Covid-19. The hybrid theater/film piece, featuring an original score by Ludwig-Leone, was named by The New York Times as one of the Best Theater Works of 2020.
Ludwig-Leone has a longstanding relationship with the Við Djúpið Music Festival in Ísafjörður, Iceland, where he runs a weeklong artist residency during the summer solstice, as well as a workshop for aspiring songwriters.
Upon graduating from Yale University in 2011, where he was the recipient of the Beekman Cannon Prize for Music, he was a musical assistant to composer Nico Muhly, assisting on scores and recordings. Born in Rhode Island and raised in rural Massachusetts, he lives in Brooklyn.
Works
Click each title for more information and score purchase links
Chamber
Tangled Landscape (2026) for clarinet and percussion quartet. 21’
Family Machine (2026) for mixed sextet. 5’
Exquisite Corpse (2024) for string quartet. 13’
Lifeline (2023) for percussion quartet. 11’
Free Dive (2023) multiple versions: for flute and vibraphone; for string quartet. 3’
Blessing (for a Wedding) (2023) arr. harp and violin. 3’
Suspensions (2022) multiple versions: for harp and viola; for harp and cello. 9’
Past Life (2021) multiple versions: duet for harp and viola; duet for harp and violin; trio for violin, piano, cello; trio for flute, piano, cello; trio for flute, harp, viola. 11’
Speech after the Removal of the Larynx (2021) for string quartet. 14’
Processional (2020) for harp and piano. 3’
Shadowy Figures (2019, arr. 2025) for harp & string quartet. 7’
Simple Machine (2016) for flute, clarinet, piano, guitar & double bass. 10’
GROW (2012) for clarinet and string quartet. 8’
Four Short Pieces for String Quartet (2011) for string quartet. 6’
Orchestra
The Visitor (2026) for orchestra and solo voice. 17’
North Woods (2025) for orchestra. 20’
In This House (2025) for solo cello and orchestra (arr. Nico Muhly). 5’
Hexentanz (2024) for orchestra. 5’
Shadowy Figures (2019) multiple versions: for solo harp and orchestra; for harp and string quartet. 8’
How to Fake Your Death (2015) for orchestra. 14’
VOICE
Weird Sisters (2024) for SSA chorus and piano. 4’
Blessing (for a Wedding) (2023) multiple versions: for voice and viola; for voice and piano. 3’
The Willow Tree (2023) for young SSAA chorus, viola, piano, and percussion. 13’
False We Hope (2021) song cycle, multiple versions: for solo voice, string quartet, piano & synth; for three voices, string quartet, piano & synth. 28’
To Look for Owls (2020) for SATB chorus, cello, and harp. 4’
Who What When Where Why (and a few other questions) (2018) for SATB chorus. 12’
Bloom (2017) for SATB chorus, two pianos, and two percussionists. 4’
Round Dance (2017) for SATB chorus, two pianos, and two percussionists. 4’
Lying in a Field, Age 67 (2016) for young SSAA chorus and large chamber ensemble. 6’
Singing in a Chorus, Age 14 (2016) multiple versions: for young SSAA chorus and large chamber ensemble; for young SSAA chorus, piano, and vibraphone. 5’
Solo
Prelude to Liquid Days (2026) for piano. 7’
Quiet Hours (2026) nine nocturnes for piano. 35’
A Breathing House (2025) suite for accordion. 18’
A Hard World for Little Things (2025) for harp. 14’
Blessing (for a Wedding) (2023) arr. for harp. 3’
Processional (2020) arr. for harp. 3’
Sanctuary (2017) for piano. 11’
Simpler Language (2016) for harp. 7’
Night Loops (2014) multiple versions: for harp, looping pedal & electronics; for solo acoustic harp. 9’
OPERA/Theater
The Woods (2025) for voices and mixed ensemble. 75’
The Night Falls (2023) for eight vocalists and large chamber ensemble. Full score. Piano-vocal score. 75’
The Specialist’s Hat (in progress) for voices, two cellos, piano/keyboard. 80’
DANCE
The Order of Things (2022) for string quartet. 25’
Natural History (2020) for flute, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, two violins, two cellos. 24’
Until the Walls Cave In (2016) for oboe, piano, string quartet & electronic playback. 23’
Common Ground (2015) for orchestra. 15’
Invisible Divide (2015) for vocalist, oboe, guitar, piano, keyboard & string quartet. 24’
All That We See (2014) for baritone saxophone, electric guitar, piano & string quartet. 19’
Dear and Blackbirds (2014) multiple versions: for string quartet, for oboe (dbl. English horn), violin, viola, cello. 10’
The Impulse Wants Company (2013) for piano quintet. 22’
San Fermin
Albums:
Arms (Strings Versions) (2024) Better Company Records.
Arms (2024) Better Company Records. Piano-vocal score (print edition). Piano-vocal score (PDF edition)
The Cormorant I & II (2019-20) Better Company Records/Sony Masterworks. Full band score (PDF edition)
Live at the Fillmore (2019) Votiv Music.
Belong (2017) Downtown Records/Interscope. Full band score (PDF edition)
Jackrabbit (2015) Downtown Records. Piano-vocal score (print edition). Full band score (PDF edition)
San Fermin (2013) Downtown Records. Full band score (PDF edition)
EPs:
Your Ghost - EP (2022) Better Company Records.
In This House (2021) Better Company Records. Co-written with various artists.
San Fermin - Live from the Advent Lutheran Church (2013) Downtown Records.
Singles:
“Shiver” (2015) UMG Recordings. Co-written with Sam Amidon.
Arrangement
Poolblood - there’s_plenty_of_music_to_go_around.zip (2024). String arrangements. Better Company Records.
Roland Faunte - “First Thing” (2023). String arrangement. ONErpm Records.
Fatoumata Diawara feat. Brooklyn Youth Chorus - London Ko (2023). Choral arrangements. 3ème Bureau / Wagram Music.
Eleri Ward - Keep a Tender Distance (2022). String arrangements. Sk-K-Boom Records.
Henry Hoagland - “The Great Filter Sweep” (arranged with Nico Muhly), and “After the Show” (2022). String arrangements. Better Company Records.
Will Orchard - Go Home Instead (2021). String arrangements. Better Company Records.
Wild Pink - A Billion Little Lights (2021). String arrangements. Royal Mountain Records.
Pure Bathing Culture - Hats (2020). String and wind arrangements. Better Company Records.
Allen Tate - Sleepwalker (2016). Arrangements, producer. Votiv Music.
Film
Ledge (2021) written and directed by Alex Edelman. 6’
The Great Work Begins - Scenes from Angels in America (2020). Directed by Ellie Heyman, written by Tony Kushner. 55’
ludwig-leone: Quiet Hours
Nine nocturnes written for nine pianists—each recorded on their own “home” piano.
about
Piano is my first instrument, but for years I kept it at a distance. As a teenager I played the classic knuckle busters—Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Chopin—but the experience felt more like an athletic feat or a memory test than a mode of expression. I was more comfortable playing keyboard in rock bands, which took place in more collaborative and relaxed spaces than the recital hall. In college, I shifted my focus to composition and left my piano training behind.
Recently, moving into a new apartment, I inherited an old upright. In the quiet of this unfamiliar space, I found that sitting at the piano became a way of making the place mine, of feeling at home. From this unexpected reunion emerged a collection of nocturnes: intimate, quasi-narrative pieces that filled the room with memory, imagination, a sense of belonging.
Each nocturne was shaped by a piece of writing that is important to me, many of them written by my close friends. In “setting” these words, the project became not only a return to the piano but also an invitation to a wider community.
With that idea in mind, I decided to write nine nocturnes for nine pianists (including one for me to play). Rather than recording everybody in one big concert hall somewhere, we decided to record each piece at that player’s “home” piano: the instrument at which they felt most comfortable. It felt more true to the spirit in which the pieces were written.
Together, these nocturnes are portraits of home: intoxicating, gnarly, lovely, frustrated, wistful—in other words, the kaleidoscope of feelings that arise when you come back to something you thought you had lost.
___
The album arrives August 14 via Better Company Records, featuring performances from: Timo Andres, Han Chen, Aaron Diehl, Simone Dinnerstein, David Kaplan, Lisa Kaplan, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Adam Tendler, and Dan Schlosberg.
listen
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. Desperate to learn why this song is haunting him–and desperate to hear it again–he 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.
LISTEN
WATCH
PHOTOS
PRESS
The New York Times - “A Song and Dance Collaboration, Straight Outta Swamplandia”
“Ludwig-Leone’s ingenious, gorgeous score manages to suggest both the siren song and its antidote.” - The New Yorker
“The choreographer-director Troy Schumacher and, especially, the composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone found a language to express split selves and the power of empathy, embodied and vocalized by a talented multigenerational cast.” - New York Times (Best Dance 2023)
The New York Times Style Magazine (feature)
Esquire (feature)
“Masterfully directed, written, designed and composed… a parable for our time” - Dance Enthusiast
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.
LISTEN
WATCH
PHOTOS
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."
“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
MORE
False We Hope is available for booking as an evening length piece. A stage plot with detailed tech requirements can be viewed here
CONTACT: sian@bettercompanyrecords.com