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 Symphony to the Ears
The Northside’s Ludwig Symphony Welcomes its 10th Year with Exciting New Performances and Big Plans for Growth. With a name like Ludwig it seems Thomas Ludwig was destined to make music his passion. A skilled violinist, composer and conductor, Ludwig’s career took him to the bright lights of New York to lead the New York Symphony as its music director, and then to the American Ballet Theatre, where he was resident conductor while Mikhail Baryshnikov pirouetted across the stage. But it was his children that led him to the next chapter of his life, taking him farther than he ever imagined. That is as founder of Roswell’s resident orchestra, aptly named the Ludwig Symphony, which to Ludwig’s surprise celebrates its 10th season this fall. “It’s an odd way to start but I had three young children who played music and I wanted some way to share what I knew with them,” said Ludwig of his symphony’s beginning. “Originally we started out as an orchestra for young people and I kept challenging them. One of the first things I gave them was a couple of movements from Beethoven’s ‘5th Symphony.’ We just got more and more successful and then we had adults playing and professionals and it kept expanding. All three of my kids are now in universities studying music and they’re gone and that reason for doing the orchestra is no longer there, but here I am.”
In 1997, a group of 47 volunteers (and Ludwig’s three children) attended the first practice of the Ludwig Symphony. As schools in North Fulton and Forsyth counties were eliminating music programs, Ludwig took on students from elementary to high schools, providing the training they needed to be better musicians. This wasn’t a typical education, as young musicians were being tested by a great conductor who purposely pushed the limits of expectations and demanded hard work, dedication and effort by introducing music even professionals would balk at. The challenging pieces he selected attracted adult musicians looking for an outlet to perform, and Ludwig welcomed all with open arms. The Ludwig Symphony has become a haven for music lovers living in north metro Atlanta looking for more than just the Atlanta Symphony to entertain them. “It was a gradual change,” Ludwig said. “We’d gotten into more difficult, more challenging programming. We’d gotten into better halls. It is something that just sort of evolved. I think artistically, from my point of view, I’d rather sink my teeth into something that is more cutting edge and difficult, so the programming that we now do is the repertoire that the Chicago Symphony or Berlin or Atlanta Symphony would do. It’s uncut and very difficult music. It’s so difficult that sometimes the professionals might waltz in and talk about how strenuous it is.” Today, the orchestra consists of 80 members, most of whom are trained adult musicians and roughly 30 high school-aged performers. For the younger musicians, Ludwig created the Beethoven Chamber Orchestra, and continues to work with children as young as 6. This training orchestra follows more classical and baroque repertoires, but Ludwig’s desire to bring music to school-aged children where it is not readily available is the reason for the growth. “We are attracting people from Forsyth County because there aren’t any string programs in their schools, for example. Those kids who have had their training with me are going to be the leaders of their high school orchestras, and they will know how to do things the other kids won’t,” he said. Bringing Music to the Masses After 10 years, the Ludwig Symphony has become a haven for music lovers living in north metro Atlanta looking for more than just the Atlanta Symphony to entertain them, as well as those further afield who don’t want to make the trek into the city for performances. And not only does the orchestra perform highly demanding pieces, it brings worldwide talent closer to home. “What has been exciting is basically building a new audience in this area. Alpharetta, Roswell and Duluth is a base nucleus,” Ludwig said. “I try to have a lot of variety in the programming itself, and I have an element where I’ll feature some local talent to give a connection to the audience, as well as soloists coming from around the world. Our November soloist is coming in from Tokyo, and we have an Israeli artist flying in from New York. But at the same time we have the harps soloists from the Atlanta Harp Ensemble, and they’re local. I like to mix up the talent as well as age levels.” The Ludwig Symphony has welcomed the typical orchestra accompaniment, as well as unexpected guests like a Mariachi band, Chinese dancers, a 4-year-old singing sensation, and if Ludwig gets his wish, even rappers. Mixing it up, the Ludwig Symphony has welcomed the typical orchestra accompaniment, as well as unexpected guests like a Mariachi band, Chinese dancers, a 4-year-old singing sensation, and if Ludwig gets his wish, even rappers. “I’d love to get 50 Cent,” he exclaimed. “Different forms of music are what excite me and make it interesting.” Now that the orchestra consists of talented and dedicated musicians, funding for the nonprofit symphony is slowly increasing, allowing Ludwig to bring in more talent from abroad and building the repertoire. In the next decade, Ludwig would like to create a more professional orchestra and offer 10 subscription concerts per year. “I want to develop it into one of the finest orchestras in this area. In the meantime, we are setting a goal for the next three years of getting more in the way of corporate sponsorship. And little by little, we’re continuing to build the quality of our board of directors and our staff,” Ludwig said. At 55 and after such a long and distinguished career, Ludwig has no desire to hang up his baton any time soon. “Leopold Stokowski, one of the world’s greatest conductors, was 95 when he died and still conducting at Carnegie Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra that he started,” Ludwig said with a laugh. “I would like to be doing this 30 years from now.” We hope he will be, too. PN
10th Anniversary Celebration Season Nov. 11, 4 p.m. Feb. 2, 2008, 8 p.m. May 3, 2008, 8 p.m. The 10th anniversary repertoire will include Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture and Symphony No. 4,” Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival Overture,” Beethoven’s “Overture to Coriolanus” and “Symphony No. 5,” Brahms’ “Symphony No. 2,” and arias by Donizetti, Puccini and Mozart. To learn more about performances, or how to volunteer or contribute, visit Ludwig Symphony at www.ludwigsymphony.org, or call 770-623-8623.
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Challenging Chords