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photo: Tina Tallon

The Ludovico Ensemble is a Boston-based chamber ensemble specializing in modern music. Founded in 2002 by percussionist Nicholas Tolle, the group is known for its carefully curated programs focusing on specific and often unusual instrumentations. From 2007-2014, the group held the position of Ensemble-In-Residence at the Boston Conservatory. In 2010, the group released its first album featuring chamber music by the late Dana Brayton, former composition teacher at the Boston Conservatory. The Boston Globe hailed Ludovico’s recording of Marti Epstein’s Hypnagogia as one of the best classical albums of 2015, and Alex Ross of The New Yorker called it a new release of interest. In 2016 the group released its third album featuring the music of Composer–In–Residence Mischa Salkind-Pearl.

 

The group consists of many of the best freelancers and new music specialists in Boston, and its instrumentation varies wildly from concert to concert as the repertoire demands. The group's name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fictional medical treatment featured in the Anthony Burgess novel and Stanley Kubrick movie "A Clockwork Orange," in which the protagonist is subjected to a classical conditioning regimen that induces nausea at the sight of violent or exploitative acts, but also, inadvertently, to the music of Beethoven.

"Sunday’s performances by members of the Ludovico Ensemble — including Rane Moore (clarinet); Donald Berman (piano); David Russell (cello); and Mike Williams, Jeff Means, and Nicholas Tolle (percussion) — were executed with impressive precision and abundant care."

Jeremy Eichler | The Boston Globe

"Their interpretive powers lifted those 100-odd instruments into the most expressive music-makers imaginable. Still more, Means, Tolle, Trant, and Williams exhibited a matchless comradery, at once seamless and non-self-serving."

David Patterson | The Boston Musical Intelligencer

"...represents the cutting edge of modern music in the Boston area."

Mark DeVoto | The Boston Musical Intelligencer

New Release of Interest: Marti Epstein's Hypnagogia by Ludovico Ensemble (2016)

Alex Ross | The New Yorker

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