Classically trained—with a Master of Arts in violin performance from Conservatorio Tomadini in Italy and a postgrad from Barcelona’s Liceu—Ludovica worked with several European orchestras for over 9 years (including the prestigious Orchestra Mitteleuropa and the Orchestra Teatro Lirico di Trieste) before moving to the United States. In addition to her classical training, Ludovica grew up playing and improvising in different musical contexts and has immersed herself in all aspects of jazz studies, completing a diploma in jazz composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Since then, she had the opportunity to perform and work with musicians like Jon Batiste, Dave Douglas, Susana Baca, Camila Meza, A. R. Rahman, Arijit Singh, and Dream Theater, to mention only a few. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Boston Opera House, The Jazz Standard, Mezzrow Jazz Club, Café Carlyle, and National Sawdust.
Ludovica has extensive experience in teaching and studio recording in orchestral, chamber music, improvisational, television and film scoring sessions, doubling also on viola. She regularly performs with her ensemble Ludovica Burtone Sparks and is about to release an album of original music with the group, which consists of a string quartet and jazz trio with piano. She also performs with her string quartet O Kwarteto Collective (of which she is a founding member and arranger), an ensemble devoted to the arrangement and performance of musical traditions from Brazil. Recently, O Kwarteto Collective began a collaboration with the New York Philharmonic Very Young Composers Workshop.
Active as a musical collaborator, Ludovica is a member of a number of long-standing groups and projects. She has performed extensively with the Michael Leonhart Jazz Orchestra (MLJO), including during the group’s monthly residency at the iconic New York jazz club, Jazz Standard (prior to its pandemic closing). Additionally, she is a member of the spaghetti western band Tredici Bacci; performs with Vanisha Gould and the Storyteller, with recent concerts at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center; collaborated with Camila Meza and the Nectar Orchestra for the recording of NPR: Jazz Night in America; collaborated with Jon Batiste for his week-long residency at Café Carlyle Club; performed as a part of Batiste’s string quartet for the recording with Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, and Kenny Garrett at the Electric Lady’s Studio in summer 2021; and performed the premier of Batiste’s American Symphony at Carnegie Hall in September 2022. Ludovica performed with Jaime Lozano and band for the presentation of Frida the Musical, a performance presentation at Lincoln Center; she was the contractor and concertmaster for the 50th-anniversary tour concert at Radio City Music Hall of Brazilian superstars Chitaozinho e Xororó; and she performed in the sold-out Notorious B.I.G. Tribute at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall—the very first hip hop event ever hosted in the hall history—with Miguel Atwood Ferguson and DJ Clark Kent.
As a composer and arranger, Ludovica recently won the Café Royal Foundation Grant, to work on her second album. She is also working on a book of string arrangements of Brazilian music, as well as a pedagogical collection of duets for two violins (teacher and student) of folk songs from different regions of Italy.
She is currently teaching privately and works actively on the New York City scene.