Quiet Hours - Nocturnes by Ellis Ludwig-Leone Recorded in the Homes of Some of Today’s Most Celebrated Pianists - Available Now
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Quiet Hours
Nocturnes for Solo Piano by Ellis Ludwig-Leone
Read The New York Times Feature
Tickets on Sale Soon: Quiet Hours presented by Death of Classical
November 7, 2026
Recorded in the Homes of Some of Today’s Most Celebrated Pianists –
Timo Andres, Han Chen, Aaron Diehl, Simone Dinnerstein, David Kaplan, Lisa Kaplan, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, Dan Schlosberg, and Adam Tendler
www.ellisludwigleone.com | www.bettercompanyrecords.com
Press downloads and CDs available upon request, contact Christina Jensen, christina@jensenartists.com.
NEW YORK, NY — In an impressive collaborative feat, acclaimed composer and pianist Ellis Ludwig-Leone, lauded by The New Yorker for his “knack for simultaneously expressing beauty and crisis,” has released Ludwig-Leone: Quiet Hours on Better Company Records. Moving beyond the traditional boundaries of the solo piano format, the album brings together nine of today’s generation-defining classical pianists for a singular concept: nine original nocturnes, each custom-written by Ludwig-Leone for the pianist and recorded on their home instrument. In addition to releasing the album, Ludwig-Leone is also publishing all of his nocturnes as a songbook alongside a series of score-following videos on his YouTube channel, so that other pianists can bring these pieces into their own living rooms. This special project was the subject of a recent feature in The New York Times, written by Brian Seibert. Quiet Hours will be celebrated in concert this fall, presented by Death of Classical on November 7, 2026 (tickets on sale soon).
Quiet Hours features nine solo nocturnes by Ellis Ludwig-Leone for himself and eight other pianists – Timo Andres, Han Chen, Aaron Diehl, Simone Dinnerstein, David Kaplan, Lisa Kaplan, Dan Schlosberg, and Adam Tendler. Rather than gathering these soloists in a sterile studio environment, Ludwig-Leone launched a cross-country road trip, bringing a mobile recording setup into their living rooms and private studios from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles.
The result is a moving conceptual alignment. Because these pieces are nocturnes—historically rooted in the quiet, reflective spaces of the night—they double as intimate sonic portraits of the spaces, habits, and instruments that make up each musician’s creative home. By capturing the unique mechanical character, subtle imperfections, and deep-seated familiarities of each pianist's own piano, Quiet Hours transforms the listening experience into a literal and psychological invitation into their private worlds.
“Sitting side-saddle to each player's creative process in their own space was fascinating,” says Ludwig-Leone. “I found my music constantly challenged and enriched. It brought me back to being a student, close-reading a text together to reveal a deeper understanding of the whole.”
For Ludwig-Leone, Quiet Hours converges several threads of his artistry—a pianist since childhood, he also leads the rock collective San Fermin, in addition to composing for such classical luminaries as Attacca Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, the Philadelphia Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, and New York City Ballet. As Seibert writes in The New York Times, “While the nocturnes on Quiet Hours are formally complex contemporary classical compositions, they are at heart songs, even lullabies.” Ludwig-Leone alludes to the personal nature of these pieces in the article, saying, “I’ve thought of composition as building a house or making structures, and songwriting more as inviting someone in for coffee.” The nocturnes on this unusual album masterfully combine aspects of both of his approaches.
Ludwig-Leone has also long found inspiration in literary sources, and while he avoids setting poetry to music, the nocturnes on Quiet Music are influenced by texts concerning the night by poets and writers including William Collins, Emily Dickinson, Emma Healey, Carey McHugh, Jacques Prévert, Karen Russell, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Sylvia, and Cynthia Zarin.
He says of the album, “Recently, moving into a new apartment, I inherited an old upright. In the quiet of this unfamiliar space, I found that sitting at the piano became a way of making the place mine, of feeling at home. From this unexpected reunion emerged a collection of nocturnes: intimate, quasi-narrative pieces that filled the room with memory, imagination, a sense of belonging. Each nocturne was shaped by a piece of writing that is important to me, many of them written by my close friends. In ‘setting’ these words, the project became not only a return to the piano but also an invitation to a wider community. Together, these nocturnes are portraits of home: intoxicating, gnarly, lovely, frustrated, wistful—in other words, the kaleidoscope of feelings that arise when you come back to something you thought you had lost.”
About Ellis Ludwig-Leone:
Ellis Ludwig-Leone has forged a singular career as both a celebrated contemporary classical composer and the creative force behind the band San Fermin. Ludwig-Leone writes music that balances warm, naturalistic textures with moments of thorny complexity, paying special attention to the psychological intersection of wonder and dread. Since coming to international attention with San Fermin’s 2013 debut, he has maintained a prolific dual practice, touring extensively while composing numerous works for the stage and concert hall. In addition to five studio albums with the band, his discography includes two acclaimed albums of chamber music, featuring collaborations with world-class ensembles such as the Attacca Quartet. His compositions have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the New York City Ballet, with recordings appearing on Sony Classical, New Amsterdam, and Better Company Records. His expansive stage and chamber output includes the dance-driven opera The Night Falls, praised by The New Yorker for its “ingenious, gorgeous score” and named one of The New York Times’ Best Dance Performances of 2023. A recipient of residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Banff Centre for the Arts, Ludwig-Leone was honored as the recipient of the 2025 Ellis-Beauregard Composer Award.
Album Details:
Ludwig-Leone: Quiet Hours
Better Company Records
Release Date: August 14, 2026
Composed by Ellis Ludwig-Leone
1. Quiet Hours recorded by Han Chen (4:30)
2. Downstairs Neighbors recorded by Aaron Diehl (2:32)
3. Barcarole for a Sunken City recorded by David Kaplan (4:00)
4. Trois Allumettes (for M.H.) recorded by Ellis Ludwig-Leone (3:26)
5. The House at Night recorded by Simone Dinnerstein (3:05)
6. Bright Room, Dark Corners recorded by Lisa Kaplan (4:33)
7. Nocturne recorded by Timo Andres (3:16)
8. Family Portrait recorded by Adam Tendler (3:57)
9. A Long, Long Sleep recorded by Dan Schlosberg (4:52)
Produced by Ellis Ludwig-Leone
Mixed and mastered by Tyler McDiarmid
All tracks engineered by Tyler McDiarmid, except:
“Nocturne” engineered by Timo Andres
“The House at Night” engineered by Silas Brown, co-produced with Silas Brown and Simone Dinnerstein
“Bright Room, Dark Corners” engineered by Greg Miner
“Barcarole for a Sunken City” engineered by Sergey Parfenov
“Family Portrait” engineered by Aaron Ross
All tracks recorded at private residences except:
“The House at Night” recorded at Abeshouse Studios, South Salem, NY
“Bright Room, Dark Corners” recorded at Philharmonic Studios, Vernon Hills, IL
“Barcarole for a Sunken City” recorded at Herb Alpert School of Music, Los Angeles, CA
“Family Portrait” recorded at Yamaha Artist Services, New York, NY
Cover art by Stephen Halker, incorporating photographs by Ellis Ludwig-Leone and Tyler McDiarmid, with additional color grading by Ellis Ludwig-Leone.
A portion of this record was written at Yaddo artist residency, December 2024.
About Better Company Records
Co-founded by Ludwig-Leone and Allen Tate, Better Company Records is a Brooklyn-based, artist-driven label headquartered in Fort Greene. Since its launch in 2020, the label has overseen more than 200 releases from an eclectic roster of over 50 artists, dedicated to championing genre-fluid projects that push the boundaries of modern music.