Untitled - Work in Progress

David Serkin Ludwig’s first memory was singing Beatles songs with his sister; his second was hearing his grandfather perform at Carnegie Hall; foreshadowing a diverse career collaborating with many of today’s leading musicians, filmmakers, and writers. His choral work “The New Colossus,” opened the private prayer service for President Obama’s second inauguration. The next year NPR Music named him in the world’s “Top 100 Composers Under Forty.” He holds positions and residencies with nearly two dozen orchestras and music festivals in the US and abroad.

Ludwig has received commissions and notable performances from many of the most recognized artists and ensembles of our time, including the Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and National Symphony Orchestras, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Dresden Music Festival, as well as Jonathan Biss, Jeremy Denk, Jennifer Koh, Jaime Laredo, David Shifrin, eighth blackbird, the Dover and Borromeo Quartets, Imani Winds, and the PRISM Saxophone Quartet and conductors Yannick Nezet Sequin, Manfred Honeck, Juanjo Mena, and JoAnn Falletta.

This year Ludwig was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters as recipient of their annual award in music. In 2022 Ludwig was awarded the Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the largest of its kind for chamber music. He received the prestigious 2018 Pew Center for the Arts and Heritage Fellowship, as well as the First Music Award, and is a two-time recipient of the Independence Foundation Fellowship, a Theodore Presser Foundation Career Grant, and awards from New Music USA, the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, Detroit Chamber Winds, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2021 Ludwig was named a Steinway Artist by Steinway and Sons. He served on the composition faculty of The Curtis Institute of Music for nearly two decades before being appointed Dean and Director of Music of The Juilliard School in June 2021. He lives in New York City with his wife, acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova, and their four beloved cats.

Imani Winds is the 2024 GRAMMY® winner in the Classical Compendium category for Jeff Scott’s “Passion for Bach and Coltrane” released on their recently formed record label, Imani Winds Media.

Celebrating over a quarter century of music making, the three time GRAMMY® nominated group has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Learn more

Acclaimed for its “otherworldly ensemble and professional level of sophistication” (New York Times), the Curtis Symphony Orchestra offers a dynamic showcase of tomorrow’s exceptional young talent. Each year the 100 extraordinary musicians of the orchestra work with internationally renowned conductors, including Osmo Vänskä, Vladimir Jurowski, Marin Alsop, Simon Rattle, Robert Spano, and Yannick Nézet Séguin, who also mentors the early-career conductors who hold Rita E. Hauser Conducting Fellowships. This professional training has enabled Curtis alumni to assume prominent positions in America’s leading orchestras, as well as esteemed orchestral, opera, and chamber ensembles around the world.

A leading soloist and chamber musician, Brandon Patrick George is the flutist of the GRAMMY-nominated Imani Winds. He has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble; and as a guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), among other notable ensembles.

Mr. George made his New York recital debut at 92nd Street Y and has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring International Music Festival. His debut album, featuring works by Aho, Bach, Boulez, and Prokofiev, was released by Haenssler Classics in September 2020.

In addition to his performances with Imani Winds, Mr. George has collaborated with members of the Gryphon Trio, the New York Philharmonic, and the Jasper String Quartet; and has performed live on New York’s WQXR with harpist Bridget Kibbey.

With the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mr. George has performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, under conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Karina Canellakis, Ludovic Morlot, and John Williams. He has toured the U.S. and Europe with ICE, appearing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Park Avenue Armory in New York, and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England. Through these collaborations, Mr. George has worked closely with composers John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich, and George Lewis, among others.

Mr. George is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He received his Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he won the school’s concerto competition. At the invitation of Sophie Cherrier, he continued his studies in France at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

Mr. George joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021.

Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz grew up surrounded by her parent’s enormous record collection in Washington, D.C. It was there she absorbed the many layers of classical music’s beauty and the inspiring and uniting potential of the world’s diverse cultural landscape.

Ms. Spellman-Diaz earned her bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her master’s and professional studies degrees from Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Hailed by the Washington Post for her “smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique,” she has performed concertos with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra.

An original member of Imani Winds, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has built her career as a champion of contemporary chamber music. Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble, and Camerata Pacifica. Ms. Spellman-Diaz teaches at Brooklyn College and NYU Steinhardt, and currently serves on the board of directors of the American Composers Orchestra.

Ms. Spellman-Diaz joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021.

Clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, always striving to have his feet in as many different genres as he can. Mr. Dover maintains a busy touring schedule throughout the United States and abroad with the Imani Winds. He is a member of the Manhattan Chamber Players and has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin, the Cleveland Orchestra with David Zinman, the New World Symphony, and many other ensembles.

Mr. Dover has an extensive background in improvised music. He is a frequent collaborator with Vulfpeck, an American funk band formed in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. His duo Port Mande, with pianist/producer Jeremy Jordan, performs original music frequently throughout New York. The duo’s EP Is This Loss? was released in July 2020.

Mr. Dover joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021 and also serves on the clarinet faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, City University of New York. He is an active clinician and has conducted master classes at many institutions including the University of Michigan, Manhattan School of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of South Carolina.

A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Mr. Dover received his Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan. His most influential teachers include David Krakauer, Deborah Chodacki, and Jay DeVries.  He lives in New York City with his wife, soprano Faylotte Crayton, and his daughter Lulu.

Kevin Newton is the newest member of the GRAMMY-nominated wind quintet, Imani Winds. A native of South Boston, Virginia, he is a horn player and educator based in Manhattan. His first music teacher, his mother, instilled in him a love of music-making’s collaborative spirit.

As a chamber musician, he has performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Metropolitan Horn Authority, Roomful of Teeth, and Tredici Bacci, among other ensembles. He has appeared professionally on the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and National Sawdust.

An advocate for new music, Mr. Newton collaborated with composer Erin Busch to premiere a solo work as a part of the Contemporary Performance Institute at the Composers Conference in 2020. He is involved with several commissions set to premiere in the 2021–22 season. Mr. Newton formerly served as principal horn of the Waynesboro Symphony and, as an orchestral soloist, he has performed works by Gordon Jacob, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Strauss.

Mr. Newton enjoys a busy recording schedule and has recently recorded with Tredici Bacci, Metropolitan Horn Authority, Tex Crick, and Sami Stevens, as well as for commercial projects. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University. He holds a Master of Music degree in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a regular participant at Yellow Barn in Vermont.

Mr. Newton joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021. He is also on the horn faculty of Manhattan School of Music’s Precollege division and MSM Summer.

Bassoonist Monica Ellis is a founding member of the GRAMMY-nominated wind quintet Imani Winds, for which she serves as administrative director and tour manager, and co-artistic director for the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival.

Ms. Ellis received her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying with George Sakakeeny. While at Oberlin she participated in the Panama Project: a month-long camp for young Panamanian students. She received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and her Professional Studies certificate from Manhattan School of Music in the orchestral performance program, studying with Frank Morelli at both institutions.

Recording credits include eight albums with Imani Winds for Bright Shiny Things, Koch International Classics, EOne, and EMI Classics. She also appears on Edward Simon’s Sorrows and Triumphs, Chick Corea’s The Continents, the Wayne Shorter Quartet’s Without a Net, Mohammed Fairouz’s Native Informant, Jeff Scott’s Urban Classical Music Project, the Brubeck Brothers Quartet’s Classified, Steve Coleman’s Ascension to Light, and Perspectives Ensemble’s Montsalvatge Mardrigal.

For over 20 years, Ms. Ellis has enjoyed an active freelance career, performing with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Absolute Ensemble, Bard Music Festival, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Perspectives Ensemble, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, among others. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Ellis is a frequent commentator on discussions dealing with critical issues of race, gender and entrepreneurship in classical music and serves on the advisory boards for the Orchestra of St. Luke’s education committee and the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Bassoon Symposium. She also serves on the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee and is a board member of Concert Artists Guild.

Ms. Ellis joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021. She also serves on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and has been a visiting professor or on faculty at the University of Chicago, the Hartt School, the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, Brooklyn College’s Conservatory of Music, Mannes School of Music, and the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program. A renowned clinician, she has given master classes and solo recital performances across the country.