Thomas Ludwig - composer & conductor
Thomas Ludwig considered “America's newest symphonist” by Symphony Magazine, is the founder and the music director of The Ludwig Symphony Orchestra and the Beethoven Chamber Orchestra in Atlanta. Hailed as "a prodigiously gifted conductor with a superb baton technique," Maestro Ludwig has conducted world renowned orchestras such as The London Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, The Minnesota Symphony, The New York City Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Over the past three decades, Ludwig has maintained a dual career as both conductor and composer. Thomas Ludwig has served as the music director and principal conductor of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and the New York City Symphony, a resident conductor for American Ballet Theatre and Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Metropolitan Opera House.
He was also a guest conductor with stars of the New York City Ballet, the Odessa National Philharmonia, and the London Symphony Orchestra. In 1972, at the age of twenty, Mr. Ludwig was appointed music director and conductor of the New York City Symphony. Critics noted at a Lincoln Center performance, that "Mr. Ludwig secured brilliant performances of Beethoven and Strauss from a splendid young ensemble." His early conducting lessons included studies with Leonard Bernstein and the great European conductor Maestro Herbert von Karajan.
Equally accomplished as a composer, he has produced distinguished concert music for a variety of commissions among them: Four Symphonies, a Violin Concerto, a Piano Concerto, a String Symphony, "Cocoanuts" Overture Fantasie, and "Four Songs" for Soprano & Orchestra. Among his chamber music: Piano Quartet and Woodwind Quintet. The New York Times and The Washington Post call his music “skillful in its control of form…eloquent masterpiece...a masterful message in the language of music.” Recordings of his music appear on National Public Radio (NPR), Voice of America, WNYC, WGMS, and Radio Grupo in Central and South America.
A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York City and a prize winner of the Kennedy Center Freidheim and the Indianapolis Symphony Composer's Competition Awards, his works have been performed by world renowned orchestras at Lincoln Center in New York City, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., China, Tokyo, London, Italy, and Mexico City. His Symphony No. 1 was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra (Albany Records) and the Louisville Symphony Orchestra (First Edition label) and published by G. Schirmer in New York. His Symphony No. 2 “child of the Zona Rosa”, recorded with the Orchester Philharmonic de la UNAM, a prick of conscience for the young children of poverty in Mexico City, the Violin Concerto inspired by the heroism of the young students of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing and recorded in Miami, and his Symphony No. 3, premiered with the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina in Florence, Italy, is a large neo-romantic canvas dedicated to the forgotten young soldier facing an implacable foe in a heroic yet perhaps-futile cause.
His recent projects included a recording of the three Schmelzer Symphonies, conducting the Prague Chamber Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. He also presented Stravinsky's Firebird Suite for the first time ever in China along with the Chinese premiere of his Cocoanuts Overture Fantasie with the Sichuan Broadcasting Orchestra. A recent world premiere of his "Quatro Lyricas Canciones" for soprano and orchestra in Mexico City was broadcast to 250 million people live in a performance by the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1952, Mr. Ludwig is a member of Broadcast Music Inc. Now in his thirteenth season as Music Director of the Ludwig Symphony Orchestra, he has enriched and expanded its repertoire through his characteristically innovative programming, and elevated the ensemble to new levels of international prominence and acclaim. In addition to his demanding performance schedule, Thomas Ludwig is a strong advocate for music education. Thomas Ludwig makes his home in Atlanta.
PRESS REVIEWS:
“America's newest symphonist”
SYMPHONY MAGAZINE
”…the symphony is vividly orchestrated, possesses tremendous emotional intensity, and yet is succinct and skillful in its control of form.”
“Ludwig's eloquent masterpiece...a masterful message in the language of music.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
"Compensation came with Thomas Ludwig's grandly graded treatment of the Tschaikovsky score"
THE LOS ANGELES HERALD EXAMINER
“music that is beautifully crafted and orchestrationally excellent...the violin concerto is fabulous.”
JOHN CORIGLIANO (COMPOSER)
“A powerful symphony for soprano and orchestra...quatros lyricas canciones.”
EL ECONOMISTA, MEXICO CITY
“Strikingly passionate, lush, and lyrical…”
MIAMI SUN SENTINEL
“...the symphony has a finely crafted Adagio, dark in hue and surging in lyrical restlessness and shows great dexterity in scoring and solo instrument colors.”
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
“Thomas Ludwig's violin concerto is one of the most powerful works of recent years. His music is passionately lyrical and deeply affecting. The structure has epic dimensions but it is justified by the seriousness and spirituality of the inner content.”
WILLIAM HENRY CURRY (STOKOWSKI CONDUCTING COMPETITION WINNER)
“An excellent violin concerto with impressively colorful orchestration and brilliant musical possibilities for the soloist...the second movement a beautiful pastorale…”
LEON SPIERER-CONCERTMASTER-BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
“Ludwig seems to possess the unique qualities necessary for great writing, a complete knowledge of orchestration, texture, balance, and probably most important of all, the terrific originality and imagination in his music which made such an impact on the members of the London Symphony Orchestra.”
ANTHONY CAMDEN-CHAIRMAN - LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS)