Laura Escudé is an American artist, entrepreneur, and live show performer. She has programmed shows for artists including Kanye West, Jay Z, American Idol, Herbie Hancock and Porter Robinson,[1] as well as composed and performed string arrangements for Kanye West and Jay Z.[2]
Escudé founded Electronic Creatives, a company where she trains music programmers and artists.[3]
When not working on live shows, Escudé creates music as a solo artist under her own name. She has also released music under her former alias Alluxe until 2019. As an artist, Escudé's signature "future classical" sound fuses avant-garde and classical music genres with live electronica.[4]
Early life and education
Born in Pensacola, Florida, Escudé was trained as a classical violinist and pianist from the age of 6. She began pursuing the violin more seriously and became the Concertmaster of Rogers High School in Newport, Rhode Island and was awarded the 1997 Governor's Scholar Award to attend the Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Music Program. She later became the Concertmaster of the Rhode Island Youth Philharmonic .[5]
Aside from her keen interest in music, Escudé was passionate about singing and acting, and actively participated in school musicals such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and was involved in many other school events while growing up. Her passion towards fitness and wellness also started young as she was a competitive runner and was the captain of the school's cross-country track and field team.
When she was 18, Escudé received a scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University, but transferred to Florida State University after a year to explore more contemporary music in Violin Performance and to pursue a minor in Business. It was there that she became a self-taught music producer, while performing in the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra as well as the Florida State University Symphony. As a student, Escudé would book shows at the campus’ live-music venue, and participated in many electronic music festivals.[6]
Career
Upon graduation in 2002, Escudé taught at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, Florida and began her violin performance career with the Santa Monica Symphony, Torrance Symphony, Multi-Ethnic Star Orchestra (MESTO), and the Observatory Orchestra.[7]
In 2005, she began working in Technical Support at M-Audio, where she went on to do Sales and Artist Relations.[8]
In 2007, Escudé became Ableton’s first West Coast Product Specialist and a few months after, she became the world's first Ableton Live Certified Trainer and became one of the first to implement music software in some of the most prestigious live shows all over the globe.[9]
In 2008, she founded Evotech Audio, a freelance consultancy for musical instruments brands as a product specialist for clients such as Ableton, Dubspot, MacProVideo, FXpansion, Rob Papen, MV Pro Audio, Celemony, X-Tempo Designs, Namba Gear and Toontrack.
In 2009, Escudé formed Electronic Creatives, now an Ableton Certified Training Center, that conducted educational events in the field of music production. One of her first major clients was Kanye West’s engineer, Anthony Kilhoffer, whom she assisted in the programming of the Glow in the Dark tour. At that time, she was also touring with Niyaz as a violinist and a music programmer. A few months later, she moved to Las Vegas and worked on the pre-production for Cirque du Soleil’s Viva Elvis Show as a programmer.[10]
Escudé has released music under her own name and under her former moniker "Alluxe". Her music fuses avant-garde and classical with live electronica,[13] which she performs using custom LED controllers, vocals, and live violin playing.
Escudé is the creator of the Transmute Retreat, which allows live performers to experience accelerated transformation in a healthy, relaxed atmosphere focused on self realization and care.[16] In recent years, she has expanded her work in the area of wellness for artists after years of professional touring, and advocates for artists to discover the tools to begin their own transformation in shifting towards a healthy and supportive atmosphere.[17]
Escudé is widely regarded as “one of the best in the world” in the live music field.[18] She aims to inspire other women and the next generation through women empowerment conferences and speaking engagements, and has been invited to speak at leading music technology institutions such as the University of Southern California and Berklee College of Music.[19]
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