Two Eastman School of Music alumni, Bob Ludwig (BM‘66E, MM‘01E), mastering engineer, and Sunny Yang (BM’04), cellist were winners in the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.’s 62nd GRAMMY Awards, Sunday January 26, 2020.
Bob Ludwig (BM‘66E, MM‘01E) won the Best Engineered Album, Classical award for Riley: The Suns (Kronos Quartet). Ludwig is a 11-time GRAMMY, two-time Latin GRAMMY, Les Paul Award, and 18-time TEC Award winner. He received his bachelor’s degree in music education in 1966 and was awarded a master’s degree in trumpet in 2001. He worked at A&R Recording, Sterling Sound, and Masterdisk Corporation before opening up his own business, Gateway Mastering Studios, Inc., in 1993.
A respected figure in the music industry, Ludwig has worked on projects for such artists as The Band, Jimi Hendrix, U2, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, and many more. He has won numerous (TEC) Technical Excellence and Creativity Awards, mastered numerous Gold and Platinum Awards, and is in demand as a panelist and speaker at universities and professional organizations.
Sunny Yang (BM’04) was the cellist on Riley: The Suns (Kronos Quartet), winning Best Engineered Album, Classical alongside Bob Ludwig. Sunny Yang joined the Kronos Quartet in 2013, succeeding Jeffrey Zeigler, and has been with the group ever since.
Born in Incheon, South Korea, Yang emigrated at a young age with her family to Pretoria, South Africa, where she resided until attending Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Royal Northern Conservatory of Music in Manchester, England, where she studied with eminent cellist Ralph Kirshbaum. She completed her studies with Kirshbaum at USC’s Thornton School of Music, where she earned a Masters of Music. She has served on the faculty of the Young Artist Program at the Yellow Barn Chamber Music School and Festival in Putney, Vermont.
As the world’s leading society of music professionals, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. is dedicated to celebrating, honoring, and sustaining music’s past, present, and future.
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training. The current dean is Jamal Rossi, appointed in 2014.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community.