David Serkin Ludwig - The Music of a New Colossus Artwork

Composer's Studio

Join hosts Anna Linvill, and Tarik Ghiradella for conversations with contemporary composers about music, life, and what’s happening in the genre defying world of classical music today. The Composer’s Studio is a place where living art is made, a place without boundaries where inspiration can come from anywhere from birdsong to heavy metal, Vivaldi to the hum of a vacuum cleaner. Classical composers today are no longer confined to the concert stage or the cathedral but contribute to film scores, television commercials, video game soundtracks and beyond. From graduate students to Grammy winners, this is a classical music show like none you have ever heard. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to join the conversation and find out about upcoming guests and performances.

All Episodes

Composer's Studio

David Serkin Ludwig - The Music of a New Colossus

November 22, 2020 • Season 1 • Episode 31

When one of your earliest memories is of your grandfather playing at Carnegie Hall, it is hard work just to carve out a place for yourself in your own family. Our guest, Composer David Serkin Ludwig does his namesake proud. Once named by NPR Music as one of the world’s “Top 100 Composers Under Forty,” David’s choral work “The New Colossus,” opened the private prayer service for President Obama’s second inauguration. Based in the creative cauldron of Philadelphia’s hot contemporary music scene, David Serkin Ludwig is chair of composition at The Curtis Institute of Music where he is also director of Ensemble 20/21 and Curtis SummerFest. He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad, and still makes time for his wife, acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova, and their four cats.