Contact
Beth Levin pianist
459 12th Street, 2-A
Brooklyn,
NY 11215
718.499.7815
beth@bethlevinpiano.com
myspace profile
wikipedia entry
Leni Bogat Artists
459 12th Street, 2-A
Brooklyn,
NY 11215
718.499.7815
beth@bethlevinpiano.com
myspace profile
wikipedia entry
Leni Bogat Artists
Music
Two Portraits
Scott Wheeler
Scott Wheeler
Beth's connections
Last updated
10/05/2012
design@bethlevinpiano.com
10/05/2012
design@bethlevinpiano.com
Gaspard de la Nuit
Ravel
Ravel
Excerpts from the Chopin Preludes, Op. 28
Beth Levin
Pianist Beth Levin's playing style can only be described as one of complete and selfless immersion into music. aided by an impeccable technique and an understanding that can be traced back to her unique artistic lineage. Levin, a former child prodigy who made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12, was subsequently taught and guided by legendary pianists such as Rudolph Serkin, Leonard Shure, Dorothy Taubman and Paul Badura-Skoda (who praised her as a pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber). It is this lineage that allows Levin to connect the golden age of the great Romantic interpreters to the modern musical landscape and lends itself to her astonishing interpretive ease with all music, whether written one hundred years ago or one hundred days ago.
As a concerto soloist, Beth has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other symphony orchestras throughout the Americas, working with noted conductors such as Arthur Fiedler, Tonu Kalam, Milton Katims, Joseph Silverstein and Benjamin Zander.
Chamber music festival collaborations have brought her to the Marlboro Festival, Casals Festival, Harvard, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ankara Music Festival and the Blue Hill Festival, collaborating with such groups such as the Gramercy Trio (founding member), the Audubon Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet and the Trio Borealis with whom she has toured extensively.
Among Levin's many recordings, her renderings of Bach's Goldberg Variations, (Centaur Records, 2008) and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations (Centaur Records, 2011) stand as two of her most crowning achievements. Her interpretation of the Diabelli Variations has been described as “consistently fascinating” (Steve Smith, NY Times) and simply “stunning” (Robert Levine, Stereophile Magazine) Of her Goldberg Variations, it is said that she plays “as if she is in love with the notes....with always the sense that she is exploring Bach's genius” (Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine) Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, WGBH (Boston), WFMT (Chicago) and WNYC, WNYE and WQXR (New York).
Levin remains committed to the performance of newly written works, collaborating with composers such as Henryk Groecki, Louis Karchin, Michael Rose among many others. Her closest relationships remains with composers David Del Tredici and Andrew Rudin, both of whom have written works for her.
Concerts 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012, 7pm
Premiere of a new work for piano by David Del Tredici
Brooklyn New Music Collective
The Firehouse Space
246 Frost St
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Thursday, June 21, 2012, 8pm
Taubman Approach to Piano Seminar
Cali School of Music at Montclair State University,
Montclair, NJ 07014
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Beethoven III Concerto in C minor
Gian Luigi Zampiero and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Ribeirão Preto:
Pedro II Theatre on the Anniversary of the City of Ribeirao Preto
Sunday, November 18, 2012, 3pm
Schumann's piano concerto in a minor with
The Barton College/Wilson Symphony, Mark N. Peterson director
The Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre
Barton College
Wilson, North Carolina
Praise for Beth Levin:
Beth reviewed in The New Yorker April 23, 2012
“Ms. Levin kept the ear engaged with boldly inflected readings and an impressive ability to convey emotion without exhibition. Her technique was solid, and better still, her organic approach made it feel like an afterthought.”
Jeremy Eichler, The New York Times
“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
"A pianist with a bold interpretive personality and a powerful technique. She brought fire and originality to her program."
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Her playing of Schumann's Carnival was at times dazzling in its virtuosity, at other times warmly moving in its sensitivity. Her performance was thoroughly persuasive."
Allen B. Skei, The Fresno Bee
"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
"Beth Levin was the highlight- and a bright light she was- of the opening concert of a new Portland series Sunday afternoon in Portland Art Museum."
Oregon Journal
"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
"Her performance of the Hummel Septet with a touring ensemble for Marlboro lingers in the memory as one of the supreme examples of pianistic energy and equilibrium in this reviewer's experience."
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
"These were performances Rudolf Serkin would have relished for their density and solidity of musical substance, and envied for their purely pianistic panache."
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
"Beth Levin’s performance is very much in the “I’ll play it my way” mode, but without a speck of disrespect to the composer. Quite the opposite; she plays as if in love with the notes. Tempos are deliberate, sometimes to the extreme. Repeats are taken at will. Voicing is unexpected. And yet there is always the sense that she is exploring Bach’s genius, as opposed to fashioning a vehicle for her own personality."
Peter Burwasser
Fanfare Magazine: Bach Goldberg Variations, Beth Levin, piano
Philadelphia's native daughter - Beth Levin, an exceptionally talented concert pianist
link here examiner.com
link to "Beethoven's Variations and Endless Imagination"
The New York Times
"Pianist Beth Levin likes the contrasts and is not afraid to underline
them, as well she should, and she is very brave in her choice of
tempos. To this end, note Var.24, a slow fughetta that she takes more
slowly than any other recorded pianist, and keeps it intact, graceful,
and clear throughout. Var.32,Fuga, is played slowly as well, with
leaden hands and ferocious accents-her reading of this double fugue
has the gravity of the high Baroque. By contrast, Levin ends this
variation with an elegant if quick take on the Minuet, her dynamics
varied and her attitude courtly, just as Mozart and Haydn would have
recognized...I remember Var.11, an adorable Allegretto, which Levin
plays as if winking at us from behind her fan...In general, the less
gregarious the variation, the better I like Levin's reading; despite
the fact that her playing is never self-effacing or shy...But when
she's good, which is very often, she's stunning."
Robert Levine, Sterophile Magazine
Pianist Beth Levin's playing style can only be described as one of complete and selfless immersion into music. aided by an impeccable technique and an understanding that can be traced back to her unique artistic lineage. Levin, a former child prodigy who made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 12, was subsequently taught and guided by legendary pianists such as Rudolph Serkin, Leonard Shure, Dorothy Taubman and Paul Badura-Skoda (who praised her as a pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber). It is this lineage that allows Levin to connect the golden age of the great Romantic interpreters to the modern musical landscape and lends itself to her astonishing interpretive ease with all music, whether written one hundred years ago or one hundred days ago.
As a concerto soloist, Beth has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Boston Civic Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other symphony orchestras throughout the Americas, working with noted conductors such as Arthur Fiedler, Tonu Kalam, Milton Katims, Joseph Silverstein and Benjamin Zander.
Chamber music festival collaborations have brought her to the Marlboro Festival, Casals Festival, Harvard, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Ankara Music Festival and the Blue Hill Festival, collaborating with such groups such as the Gramercy Trio (founding member), the Audubon Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet and the Trio Borealis with whom she has toured extensively.
Among Levin's many recordings, her renderings of Bach's Goldberg Variations, (Centaur Records, 2008) and Beethoven's Diabelli Variations (Centaur Records, 2011) stand as two of her most crowning achievements. Her interpretation of the Diabelli Variations has been described as “consistently fascinating” (Steve Smith, NY Times) and simply “stunning” (Robert Levine, Stereophile Magazine) Of her Goldberg Variations, it is said that she plays “as if she is in love with the notes....with always the sense that she is exploring Bach's genius” (Peter Burwasser, Fanfare Magazine) Her performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, WGBH (Boston), WFMT (Chicago) and WNYC, WNYE and WQXR (New York).
Levin remains committed to the performance of newly written works, collaborating with composers such as Henryk Groecki, Louis Karchin, Michael Rose among many others. Her closest relationships remains with composers David Del Tredici and Andrew Rudin, both of whom have written works for her.
Concerts 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012, 7pm
Premiere of a new work for piano by David Del Tredici
Brooklyn New Music Collective
The Firehouse Space
246 Frost St
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Thursday, June 21, 2012, 8pm
Taubman Approach to Piano Seminar
Cali School of Music at Montclair State University,
Montclair, NJ 07014
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Beethoven III Concerto in C minor
Gian Luigi Zampiero and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Ribeirão Preto:
Pedro II Theatre on the Anniversary of the City of Ribeirao Preto
Sunday, November 18, 2012, 3pm
Schumann's piano concerto in a minor with
The Barton College/Wilson Symphony, Mark N. Peterson director
The Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell Theatre
Barton College
Wilson, North Carolina
Praise for Beth Levin:
Beth reviewed in The New Yorker April 23, 2012
“Ms. Levin kept the ear engaged with boldly inflected readings and an impressive ability to convey emotion without exhibition. Her technique was solid, and better still, her organic approach made it feel like an afterthought.”
Jeremy Eichler, The New York Times
“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
"A pianist with a bold interpretive personality and a powerful technique. She brought fire and originality to her program."
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
"Her playing of Schumann's Carnival was at times dazzling in its virtuosity, at other times warmly moving in its sensitivity. Her performance was thoroughly persuasive."
Allen B. Skei, The Fresno Bee
"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
"Beth Levin was the highlight- and a bright light she was- of the opening concert of a new Portland series Sunday afternoon in Portland Art Museum."
Oregon Journal
"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
"Her performance of the Hummel Septet with a touring ensemble for Marlboro lingers in the memory as one of the supreme examples of pianistic energy and equilibrium in this reviewer's experience."
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
"These were performances Rudolf Serkin would have relished for their density and solidity of musical substance, and envied for their purely pianistic panache."
Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe
"Beth Levin’s performance is very much in the “I’ll play it my way” mode, but without a speck of disrespect to the composer. Quite the opposite; she plays as if in love with the notes. Tempos are deliberate, sometimes to the extreme. Repeats are taken at will. Voicing is unexpected. And yet there is always the sense that she is exploring Bach’s genius, as opposed to fashioning a vehicle for her own personality."
Peter Burwasser
Fanfare Magazine: Bach Goldberg Variations, Beth Levin, piano
Philadelphia's native daughter - Beth Levin, an exceptionally talented concert pianist
link here examiner.com
link to "Beethoven's Variations and Endless Imagination"
The New York Times
"Pianist Beth Levin likes the contrasts and is not afraid to underline
them, as well she should, and she is very brave in her choice of
tempos. To this end, note Var.24, a slow fughetta that she takes more
slowly than any other recorded pianist, and keeps it intact, graceful,
and clear throughout. Var.32,Fuga, is played slowly as well, with
leaden hands and ferocious accents-her reading of this double fugue
has the gravity of the high Baroque. By contrast, Levin ends this
variation with an elegant if quick take on the Minuet, her dynamics
varied and her attitude courtly, just as Mozart and Haydn would have
recognized...I remember Var.11, an adorable Allegretto, which Levin
plays as if winking at us from behind her fan...In general, the less
gregarious the variation, the better I like Levin's reading; despite
the fact that her playing is never self-effacing or shy...But when
she's good, which is very often, she's stunning."
Robert Levine, Sterophile Magazine
You can also listen to Beth here on Classical Connect
Portrait Miniatures
Andrew Rudin
Andrew Rudin
