Beth Levin profile picture

Beth Levin

A pianist with a bold interpretive personality

About Me

Coming this Winter from Centaur Records:


"Over the years, Levin has transformed herself. The flame within still burns with undimmed intensity, but now there is warmth as well as blinding light."
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe


At 12 Beth Levin made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Soon after, she was selected as one of three students to study with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music. She has earned the acclaim of colleagues and critics as an exceptional talent.
Ms. Levin made her New York debut in 1982 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Recitals at the Gardner Museum, Forum in North Carolina, the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Harvard University, Randolph Macon College, New York University, Williams College, the Brooklyn Museum, Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall followed. She has toured Europe with Trio Borealis and performed the "Emperor" Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of Quito, Ecuador. Her live radio broadcasts have aired on National Public Radio, WGBH in Boston, WFMT in Chicago and WNYC, WNYE and WQXR in New York.
Appearing as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony and chamber orchestras around the United States, Ms. Levin has worked with such conductors as William Smith, Arthur Fiedler, Sidney Rothstein, Benjamin Zander, Milton Katims, Silas Huff and Joseph Silverstein. As a Music From Marlboro Artist, she toured the United States and Canada and taped the Hummel Quintet in D minor for Columbia Masterworks. She has collaborated with the Audubon Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, The Reykjavik Woodwind Quintet, the Daniel Quartet, the Boston Artists Ensemble and the Saratoga Chamber Players. Participation in the Taubman International Piano Festival, Marlboro, Casals, Harvard, Edinburgh Fringe and Blue Hill summer music festivals also resulted. Ms. Levin was a founder of the Gramercy Trio and the American Arts Trio. Concert recordings of Schubert's "Wanderer" Fantasy and Scott Wheeler's Artist Proofs (1998) have been released on the Palexa label. She is also a founding member of the chamber music ensemble, Vista Lirica.
"A pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber. I was deeply impressed and moved by her performance at the last Marlboro Festival."
Paul Badura-Skoda
Her training began with Maryan Filar at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. In addition to Rudolf Serkin, her teachers have included Leonard Shure at Boston University and Dorothy Taubman in New York City. As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Levin has performed and recorded contemporary works by Alan Campbell, Marc Eychenne, Brian Fennelly, Steven R. Gerber, Alexander Goretzky, Louis Karchin, Michael Rose, Scott Wheeler and David Del Tredici.
"Miss Levin, who has well-drilled fingers and temperament to spare, romped through the nonstop virtuoso writing. But it was not all her show, and she subdued herself to let the other instruments have their say when the score indicated which, in all truth, is not too often. It was a bracing performance."
Harold C. Schonberg, The New York Times
Ms. Levin toured Europe extensively under the auspices of Poetica Musica and the US State Department.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/29/2007
Influences: Marian Filar, Rudolf Serkin, Leonard Shure, Dorothy Taubman
Record Label: Columbia Masterworks, Taubman, Centaur Records
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

column

May 25, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist Hope in the Unseen By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Every once in a while as a journalist you see a scene that grips you and will not let go, a scene that is a...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sun, 25 May 2008 05:17:00 PST

Millay

Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford A Review by Laura Miller She bedded countless men (and women) and became the most celebrated woman of her day. She wasn't a r...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sun, 25 May 2008 07:32:00 PST

Amadeus Quartet

Siegmund Nissel, 86, of Amadeus Group, Is Dead By MARGALIT FOX Published: May 24, 2008 Siegmund Nissel, the second violinist of the Amadeus Quartet, an internationally renowned ensemble that had i...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 10:21:00 PST

Dore

Art Passions Home        Dore Prints       Book Finder       2008 Calendars        Site ...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 08:51:00 PST

Poem

those brown eyes those brown eyes behind the glasses and then exposed such laughter- it made us both ill I could scarcely breathe the entire visit- anxiety, anticipation, the wine, the dear pussies I ...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 08:06:00 PST

Three of Plath

Apprehensions There is this white wall, above which the sky creates itself--- Infinite, green, utterly untouchable. Angels swim in it, and the stars, in indifference also. They are my medium. The sun...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 06:21:00 PST

Pushkin

Ruslan and Liudmila (intro) by Aleksandr Pushkin          For you alone, enchanting beauties,     Queens of my spirit, for your sake   &n...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 06:16:00 PST

Wisdom

     "Tis not knowing much, but what is useful, that makes a wise man." Thomas Fuller Good Advice Never leave hold of what you've got until you've got hold of something else...
Posted by Beth Levin on Sat, 24 May 2008 05:54:00 PST

Yeats

Myself That I Remake Spiritual Renewal in the Life and Work of William Butler Yeats section 2: Spiritual Renewal Through Creation The theme of renewal is the most constant thread connecting the m...
Posted by Beth Levin on Thu, 22 May 2008 08:10:00 PST

article/Guardian

'I only felt loved when I played well' Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/02/2005 Page 1 of 3 Pianist Jeremy Menuhin tells Judith Woods about growing up in the shadow of his father, the violinist and p...
Posted by Beth Levin on Thu, 22 May 2008 04:31:00 PST