Loren Ludwig--Indiana Can Wait

Loren Ludwig '99 had intended to begin graduate studies in viola da gamba with Wendy Gillespie at Indiana University this fall.

Things change.

Ludwig has won a Fulbright Fellowship to study viola da gamba with Anneke Pols and Jaap ter Linden at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in The Netherlands. Indiana will have to wait.

Gillespie, says Ludwig, "was very helpful and supportive" throughout the process that led to his decision to study abroad. "I really appreciate that."

He also makes a point of thanking his Oberlin teachers for their help with the Fulbright application process.

"Loren studied with me for his four years at Oberlin," says Catharina Meints, teacher of viola da gamba and baroque cello. "He was a very independent student--would never settle for a 'because I say so' from a teacher--therefore he was fun and a challenge to teach!"

Meints says that because Ludwig "is so resourceful and original in his thinking," she was not at all surprised to hear that he had won a Fulbright.

A Fulbright fellow can go anyplace in the world where Fulbright programs exist, so why did Ludwig choose The Netherlands?

"European training is essential to Americans in the field of historical performance," he explains, and he cites two critical factors. "First, there are simply more musicians playing period instruments at a higher level than in the U.S., and the historical performance scene is flourishing in Holland. Besides various annual festivals and university programs, it is home to an astonishing number of historical performance luminaries, Jaap ter Linden, Wieland Kuijken, and Max von Egmond among them.

"Second, there is a strong bias in the U.S. among presenters (and to a lesser extent the concert-going public) against American musicians who have not 'paid their dues' by studying in Europe."

Love also had a hand in it. Ludwig's long-time girlfriend, Cara Perkins '98, is a modern dancer, and will travel with him. "There is an abundance of great modern dance in The Netherlands," he says. "Finding a place where we could both study our respective art forms was a factor in what country I applied to."

Ludwig says he looks forward to being in Europe, "where Baroque music is part of the cultural heritage. Historical performance seeks to understand the artistic and cultural context of a piece of music. I imagine that being in the land of the composers of the music that I love will be a very rich experience. Studying with great teachers among talented students can't hurt, either."

He plays a copy of a viola da gamba that Eva Heinitz had commissioned in the 1930s from her primary instrument, which had been crafted by the renowned 17th Century German maker Joachim Tielke. Heinitz, says Ludwig, was the "Grande Dame of the viola da gamba during the mid-20th century, when there were still very few people who had even heard of the viola da gamba."

Ludwig began his study of the instrument while a high school student in Amherst, Massachusetts.

At Oberlin, he performed with the Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, and collaborated with Anna Rubin, professor of composition, on Seachanges, her work for tape and viola da gamba. He has performed with Wien Barock, The King's Noyse, and Concerto Palatino, and has been heard on WCLV, Cleveland's classical music radio station. He has also performed at Boston's renowned Early Music Festival, and furthered his studies at the Hochschule Fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany.

Oberlin, he says, "taught me how to learn to be a musician--how to recognize what I can learn from what's around me, from the teachers and students and places that I find myself."

This should please Catharina Meints, who, when asked what advice she might give him, said, "I would suggest that he continue in his attitude of getting the most out of everyone he works with."

Ludwig, it seems, has learned his lessons well.