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. Lauded by The New Yorker for his “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” Ludwig-Leone (b. 1989) writes music that balances warm, naturalistic textures with moments of thorny complexity, paying special attention to the psychological intersection of wonder and dread.
Since coming to international attention with San Fermin’s 2013 debut, he has maintained a prolific dual practice, touring extensively while composing numerous works for the stage and concert hall. In addition to five studio albums with the band, his discography includes two acclaimed albums of chamber music, featuring collaborations with world-class ensembles such as the Attacca Quartet. His compositions have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the New York City Ballet, with recordings appearing on Sony Classical, New Amsterdam, and Better Company Records. A recipient of residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, Ludwig-Leone was honored as the recipient of the 2025 Ellis-Beauregard Composer Award.
The 2025-26 season marks a period of major premieres and interdisciplinary collaborations, including The Woods, an immersive concert that saw a sold-out run at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works; and In This House, performed by soloist Sheku Kanneh-Mason with the Philadelphia and BBC Concert Orchestras. Other 2025-26 performance highlights include: North Woods, commissioned by the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation for Bangor Symphony Orchestra; Life After Death, an evening of music for Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra culminating in the world premiere of Threshold—a new work for orchestra and soprano Eliza Bagg—with a subsequent performance by Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra; Start at the End, a concert of Ludwig-Leone’s chamber music and premiere of a new work for Eighth Blackbird; Ellis Ludwig-Leone: Composer Portrait, an evening of his chamber music with Lavinia Meijer and ADAM Quartet at November Music Festival; Natural History, a ballet choreographed by Troy Schumacher for BalletCollective; and The Living Room, a live musical installation featuring Ludwig-Leone’s collected works for harp, performed by Chelsea Lane and commissioned by ArtPrize for its 2025 festival. His most recent string quartet Exquisite Corpse arrived in recorded format via Better Company Records in September 2025, and will be performed on tour by ADAM Quartet throughout the 2025-26 season.
His expansive stage and chamber output 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. Alongside his theatrical work, Ludwig-Leone has released two albums of chamber music via his label, Better Company Records: Past Life/Lifeline, featuring works for Lavinia Meijer, Nadia Sirota, and Sandbox Percussion; and the song cycle False We Hope, written for the Attacca Quartet and vocalist Eliza Bagg. Described by OperaWire as a “thought-provoking journey across a strange and extraordinary soundscape,” False We Hope has since been performed at international festivals including Big Ears, Birds of Paradise, November Music, and Við Djúpið.
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 200 releases from more than 50 artists since it was founded 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, 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.
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.
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.
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.