 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Gilbert Levine" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sir[1]Gilbert Levine,GCSG[2] (born January 22, 1948) is an Americanconductor. He is considered an "outstanding personality in the world of international music television."[3] He has led thePBS concert debuts of theStaatskapelle Dresden,Royal Philharmonic,London Philharmonic,Philharmonia Orchestra,WDR Symphony Orchestra, and thePittsburgh Symphony, and the PBS premieres of works including theBeethovenMissa Solemnis,BachMagnificat in D,HaydnCreation, andBrucknerSymphony 9.[4]
Levine was born inBrooklyn,New York, attended theJuilliard School of Music, and holds anA.B. degree fromPrinceton University and aM.A. degree fromYale University. He studiedbassoon withStephen Maxym andSherman Walt,piano withGilbert Kalish,Music History withLewis Lockwood andArthur Mendel,Music Theory withEdward T. Cone,Peter Westergaard andMilton Babbitt, ear training and score reading withNadia Boulanger,Renée Longy, and Luise Vosgerchian, and conducting withJacques-Louis Monod andFranco Ferrara at theAccademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.
Levine was assistant to SirGeorg Solti inLondon at theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra and at theRoyal Opera House (Covent Garden), and in Paris with l'Orchestre de Paris. He was a protégé ofKlaus Tennstedt.[5]
Levine has lectured at institutions includingHarvard University,Princeton University,Yale University,Stanford University,[6]University of Oxford,[7]Columbia University,University of California, Davis,[8]Duquesne University,[9] and theUniversity of North Carolina, Greensboro.[10]
He has taught conducting both at Yale and theManhattan School of Music. His conducting students have included the American composerAaron Jay Kernis. Levine maintains current ties to his two alma maters. He serves as a member of the Princeton University Department of Music Advisory Council and has recently been appointed to a fifth term as Fellow ofTrumbull College[11] at Yale.
Early in his career, Levine conducted orchestras both in Europe and the United States, including thePhiladelphia Orchestra,New York Philharmonic, theSan Francisco Symphony, theMinnesota Orchestra,Toronto Symphony Orchestra, theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra, theNDR Sinfonie-Orchester Hamburg, theIceland Symphony Orchestra, and theRadio-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin.
Levine first gained international notice when he became conductor and artistic director of theKraków Philharmonic in 1987. He was the first American chief conductor of an Eastern European orchestra. His appointment was initially controversial because of the general consensus thatKrzysztof Penderecki forced the choice of Levine on the orchestra.[12]
Under his leadership, the orchestra toured Europe, the major concert halls of North America, and the Far East,[13] including the first visit by any Polish orchestra to South Korea. Under Levine, the Kraków Philharmonic also performed for the first time with such soloists asEmanuel Ax,Garrick Ohlsson, andShlomo Mintz. He concluded his tenure in Kraków in 1993.
In 1988, while working inKraków, Levine met Pope John Paul II, at the latter's invitation. The Pope subsequently asked Levine to conduct the concert commemorating the 10th anniversary of his Pontificate.[14] This concert was originally broadcast byRAI, Italian television, and throughout Europe via Eurovision. It was subsequently broadcast and re-broadcast on Public Television in the U.S. over the next 17 years.
In 1993, Levine conducted for the Pope atWorld Youth Day inDenver. That program included the first performances of works byBernstein,Barber, andCopland at any Papal event, and was televised worldwide.[14]
In 1994, Levine (whose mother-in-law was anAuschwitz survivor) conducted theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra in the historic "Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah (Holocaust)," which marked the first official Vatican commemoration of the Nazi genocide of World War II.[15] Featured guest artists wereLynn Harrell andRichard Dreyfuss, who narrated an excerpt fromLeonard Bernstein'sThird Symphony (Kaddish).
In 1998, Levine led members of theLos Angeles Philharmonic and, with the special permission of Pope John Paul II, the ancient Capella Giulia Choir ofSt. Peter's Basilica, in concerts to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the founding ofMission San Luis Rey in California. These concerts constituted the first visit of this 500-year-old choir to the Western Hemisphere, and were broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today".[16]
Other Papal concerts at the Vatican directed by Levine included the first of two concerts celebrating the Catholic Church's Grand Jubilee in 2000 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and thePhilharmonia Chorus performing parts one and two of Haydn'sThe Creation[17] Levine conducted a 2003 televised musical celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's pontificate with theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra in Saint Peter's Basilica, a concert which aired onAmerican Broadcasting Company (ABC).
In 2004, Levine conducted his last concert for Pope John Paul II, leading thePittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and members of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, theLondon Philharmonic Choir, the Kraków Philharmonic Choir, and the Ankara Polyphonic Choir in the "Papal Concert of Reconciliation." This event was the first time that any American orchestra had performed for any Pope in theVatican. The concert, broadcast worldwide, includedGustav Mahler'sSymphony No. 2Resurrection, andAbraham, a specially-commissionedmotet byJohn Harbison.[18][19]
Over the years of his relationship with John Paul II, Levine became known as "the Pope's Maestro." In 1994, for his services to the Pope and to the Vatican, he was invested as a Knight Commander of the Pontifical EquestrianOrder of St. Gregory the Great (KCSG), the highest Papal knighthood accorded to a non-ecclesiastical musician sinceMozart.[20]
Upon John Paul II's death, Levine called him a friend and "an incredible sustenance for me.[21]" In 2005, Levine conducted a memorial concert for the Pontiff, which was broadcast onPBS. That same year, Pope John Paul II's successor,Pope Benedict XVI, honoured Levine with the Silver Star of theOrder of St. Gregory the Great (KC*SG), the highest papal distinction received by a Jew in the history of the Vatican.[22]
On January 31, 2016,Pope Francis honored Levine as a Pontifical Knight Grand Cross of theEquestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great (GCSG),[23] the highest rank of the order and one very rarely bestowed. He is the second artist so honored. The other isRiccardo Muti, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, who received that honor fromPope Benedict XVI in 2012.[24][25]
In the UK, Levine and theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra have recordedTchaikovsky'sSymphony No. 3. In 2000, Levine was named Artistic Director and Conductor of thePhilharmonia Orchestra's "Millennium Creation Series." In this capacity he toured America and Europe, performingHaydn'sThe Creation in televised concerts in Baltimore, London, and Rome.[26][27][17] He led theLondon Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) in 2003, conducting selections fromVerdi and Mozart on ABC's "Good Morning America" in a historic first for that program.
In the same year, Levine led the LPO and London Philharmonic Choir in televised performances of excerpts ofGórecki'sThird Symphony andBeethoven'sNinth Symphony fromKraków, during the city's reign as theEuropean Capital of Culture. On this occasion, Levine received the Kraków Gold Medallion from the city president, in recognition of his services to Kraków's cultural life.
From 2004 to 2006, Levine led thePittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a series of concerts called "Music for the Spirit," which included a 2004 performance of the VerdiRequiem.,[28] a January 2006 concert to commemorate the 100th anniversary of St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh of Haydn'sThe Creation, and a June 2006 concert ofGustav Mahler'sThird Symphony.
In July 2005, Levine led theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra and theLondon Philharmonic Choir in the first complete performance of BeethovenMissa Solemnis inCologne Cathedral. The performance was broadcast throughout Europe and North America. The international quartet of soloists included American tenorJerry Hadley in his last televised concert performance.
In November of that same year, Levine directed theOrchestra of Saint Luke's and theMorgan State University Choir in a concert entitled "Rejoice in this Land", which included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and the world premiere ofWashington Speaks byRichard Danielpour, withTed Koppel as narrator. The performance was broadcast throughout the United States both on terrestrial radio in major cities and onXM Satellite Radio.
Levine made his debut with theWDR Symphony Orchestra of Cologne in 2007 in a performance of BrucknerSymphony 9 andTe Deum with the choirs of theWDR of Cologne and theNDR Chor of Hamburg.
On April 23, 2012, Levine conducted theLyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and theChicago Symphony Chorus in their first ever performance together, at Orchestra Hall,Symphony Center, Chicago. The program includedBogurodzica (an ancient Polish hymn),Edward T. Cone Psalm 91 (1948),BachMagnificat in D, and BeethovenSymphony No. 3, “Eroica”. The concert was filmed for national and international television and radio broadcast.[29][30] It was first broadcast in Chicago in October 2012.[31][32]
On May 5, 2014, Levine led theOrchestra of Saint Luke's, the Kraków Philharmonic Choir and theChoral Arts Society of Washington in "Peace Through Music: In Our Age," a musical celebration of the Canonizations of PopesJohn XXIII and John Paul II, atConstitution Hall inWashington, D.C.[33] The concert included performances ofCoplandFanfare for the Common Man, VerdiMessa di Requiem (Sanctus), GóreckiTotus Tuus, BernsteinChichester Psalms and BrahmsFirst Symphony. The concert was sponsored by the Embassies of Poland, Italy, Argentina, and the Holy See to the U.S., the CatholicArchdiocese of Washington,Georgetown University, andWETA. The concert was taped for broadcast on PBS and internationally in Fall 2014.[34][35]
On television, Levine has been featured on many occasions, both as a news subject and in concert. In addition to his appearance on "Good Morning America," and his numerous performances on European television, theCBS newsmagazine60 Minutes featured a profile of him titled "The Pope's Maestro".[36] Other stories about him have been featured on such programs asCBS Evening News,CBS Sunday Morning (on which he was profiled byEugenia Zukerman),ABC World News Tonight,Nightline (ABC),Larry King Live (CNN),[37] andThe Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (CNN). He has appeared onNational Public Radio on such programs asSymphony Cast,Performance Today, andAll Things Considered.
On January 14, 1992, Levine was interviewed byStuds Terkel on hisWFMT (Chicago) nationally syndicated radio broadcast. Levine's recording of the Shostakovich Suite fromThe Golden Age, with the Krakow Philharmonic, was the featured work on that program.[38]
In 2009,TVN (Poland) broadcast a 30-minute biographical documentary on Levine entitled "The Pope’s Maestro".[39] The film dealt with his life and career, from the arrival of his family in New York from Warsaw in the early years of the 20th Century, to his studies at TheJuilliard School, his life and work in Kraków under communism, and his concerts forPope John Paul II.
Levine's memoir,The Pope’s Maestro, was published by Jossey-Bass, aWiley Imprint, in October 2010,[40] and in Polish translation in 2012 under the title Papieski Maestro by Wydawnictwo Świat Książki.[41]Publishers Weekly wrote ofThe Pope's Maestro, "Not all books are worth writing; this one assuredly is, because it tells how peace can happen, one heart at a time."
On April 25, 2014, Levine was the subject of the "Saturday Interview" inThe Wall Street Journal. The article was written byMatthew Kaminski.[42]
In 2017, the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University commissioned a video profile of Sir Gilbert Levine. The profile was produced by Angel Gardner and filmed and edited by Zohar Lavi-Hasson.[43]
Levine is married to Dr. Vera Kalina-Levine. They have two children, David (b. 1984) and Gabriel (b.1991)
Levine's television-aired concert performances have included the following:
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
