www.davidludwigmusic.com
Instant EncoreDavid Ludwig's music has been performed internationally by leading musicians of our time in some of the world's most prestigious locations. His music has been called “entrancing,†and that it “promises to speak for the sorrows of this generation,†(Philadelphia Inquirer). It has further gained recognition for its “expressive directness†(The New York Times) and has been noted for “a yearning, poetic quality†(Baltimore Sun). His works have been performed in such venues in the United States as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Library of Congress, and have been heard on PBS and NPR's Weekend Edition .
Ludwig has received commissions from many prominent artists and ensembles. The Grammy Award-winning “eighth blackbird†ensemble premiered his new work Haiku Catharsis at the Kimmel Center in 2004. Also in 2004, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra premiered Ludwig's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra for their 70th Anniversary concert. In 2005, Ludwig continued his residency with the VSO after writing a new work for violinist Jaime Laredo that the composer conducted on a tour of a dozen concert halls. His Concertino was one of the top ten most frequently performed orchestra works by a living composer that year according to the American Symphony Orchestra League. He will go on tour again this year as his work From the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayám with the Curtis On Tour Ensemble, on the East and West Coasts.
Other commissions have been received from important musicians including pianist Jonathan Biss, flutist Jeffrey Khaner, violinist Soovin Kim, violist Michael Tree, and guitarist Jason Vieaux. The 2007-2008 Season features commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra, Concert Artists Guild, The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, the University of Michigan Wind Ensemble, and the Detroit Chamber Winds ensemble, as well as a double concerto for violinist Jaime Laredo and cellist Sharon Robinson to be premiered in January of 2009.
Recipient of the First Music Award, an Independence Foundation Fellowship, and a Theodore Presser Foundation Career Grant, Ludwig has been twice nominated for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Stoeger Award. He has received awards from the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, and has a three-year residency with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra funded by the prestigious Meet The Composer “Music Alive!†program.
Ludwig was the Young Composer in residence at the Marlboro Music School for three consecutive years. In addition to Marlboro, he has been in residence at the Yaddo and MacDowell artist colonies. He is a resident artist at the Isabella Gardner Museum, is the resident composer and permanent New Music Advisor of the Vermont Symphony, and is the director of the Contemporary Music Program at The New York Summer Music Festival.
Born in Bucks County, P.A., Ludwig received a B.M. from the Oberlin Conservatory studying with Richard Hoffmann and his M.M. from The Manhattan School of Music. He continued post-graduate work at The Curtis Institute with Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon and Ned Rorem, and at the Juilliard School with John Corigliano. He is currently the George Crumb Fellow in the University of Pennsylvania PhD program. Ludwig joined the faculty of Curtis in 2002 where he serves on the composition faculty, as the acting chair of musical studies, and as the artistic director of the 20/21 New Music Ensemble.