Raymond Luedeke

Main Instrument

• • COMPOSER

About Raymond Luedeke

Composer Ray Luedeke attended the Eastman School of Music; the Vienna Academy of Music, on a Fulbright Grant; Dartmouth College, where he studied with George Crumb; and Northwestern University, where he studied with Alan Stout. His output is extensive and varied. It runs the gamut from entertaining theater pieces for children, through a long list of sophisticated solo and chamber music to colorful, carefully crafted pieces for orchestra. In 2010 composer Ray Luedeke left his position as Associate Principal Clarinet of the Toronto Symphony, held since 1981, and moved to New York City, where he is Director of Voice Afire Opera-Cabaret, a company specializing in new ways of combining theater with live music. New York productions have included Butterfly’s Trouble, a re-invention for 7 performers of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly; The Art of Love for 2 pianos and actor; Kafka Shorts for string quartet and 2 actors; In Kharms Way, a evening-length music theater piece, also for string quartet and 2 actors, and My Life with Pablo Neruda, an opera-cabaret for 2 singers, 2 actors, and 4 instrumentalists. A Doll’s House, Voice Afire’s 2020 NYC producition, is Ray’s 2nd full-length opera.