Avri Levitan

Avri Levitan (born 1973) is an Israeli violist based in Berlin. He conceived the nonprofit Musethica with Carmen Marcuello in 2009 and launched it in 2012 in Zaragoza, Spain. Levitan has received nominations at the BBC Music Magazine Awards in 2009 and the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards in 2012.

Avri Levitan
Born1973 (age 49–50)
Tel Aviv, Israel
GenresClassical
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Viola
Spouse(s)Dafna Levitan
Websiteavrilevitan.com

Early life and education

Levitan was born in 1973 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is of Polish descent.[1][2] His parents introduced him to classical music,[3] and he began taking viola lessons at the age of five.[3] As a youth, he found practicing the viola to be challenging, as he preferred football. He told China Daily, "But when I stopped playing music, after one or two days, I realized that I cannot live without music."[3] In an interview published by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Levitan states that he was inspired, while growing up in Israel, by artists such as Leonard Bernstein, Pnina Salzman, and also Haim Taub, with whom he studied.[4]

Levitan studied at the Rubin Tel Aviv Academy before going on to receive a masters degree from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris.[4] Pinchas Zukerman, Michael Tree, and Ivry Gitlis were his advisers while he was a student.[1] In 1994, he performed at Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in his first performance with the Israeli Symphony Orchestra.[1]

Career

In 2001, Levitan performed on the viola at the Women's League Hall with Yonatan Zak, who performed on the piano. The Jerusalem Post reviewer Ury Eppstein wrote, "Levitan, young and obviously talented, displayed pure intonation and a warm singing tone, more than one commonly hears from this often pale-sounding instrument. His rendition of Schubert's 'Arpeggione Sonata' was animated and flowing, sensitive to many of the work's subtleties, indicating a remarkable degree of musicality."[5]

His 2009 album was a BBC Music Magazine Awards nominee, and he also received a 2012 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards nomination.[3][6] Levitan toured with the Nordic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Anu Tali, performing Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei at the Vienna Konzerthaus Großer Saal.[7]

In 2009, Levitan conceived of Musethica with Carmen Marcuello and launched it in 2012 in Zaragoza, Spain.[8][9] Musethica merges the words "music" and "aesthetics".[3] According to The Jerusalem Post, "The central tenet of the project is to create a model for gifted music students to perform on a regular basis for different audiences, principally for people who do not typically attend traditional concert halls."[9] Musethica is now also active in Berlin, Germany.[10]

Documentary

The documentary film k.364, by Douglas Gordon, tells Levitan's story, as well as that of fellow Israeli musician Roi Shiloah.[11] k.364 was also produced as a video installation with multiple screens.[12]

Personal life

Levitan is Jewish.[13] His wife is Dafna Levitan, a pianist,[1] and he has a son.[3]

References
  1. "Jewish Congregation to present concert of Duo Levitan Feb. 7". The Oak Ridger. 25 January 2007. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  2. Luke, Ben (15 February 2011). "A masterpiece to make the spirit soar - With his film of two Jewish musicians travelling to Poland to play Mozart, Douglas Gordon has created an artwork that is moving, beguiling and utterly exhilarating". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  3. Chen, Nan (2 June 2017). "Berlin-based program makes classical music more accessible". China Daily. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  4. "Avri Levitan". American-Israel Cultural Foundation. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  5. Eppstein, Ury (13 February 2001). "Salute to Rodan". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  6. ":: Friedberger Musiksommer ::". archive.ph. 6 February 2013. Archived from the original on 6 February 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  7. "jeunesse.at Programm Details Nordic Symphony Orchestr". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  8. Davis, Barry (15 October 2015). "Music hath power for one and all". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  9. Davis, Barry (18 July 2014). "Something for everyone". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  10. "Avri Levitan". Joseph Haydn Institut für Kammermusik und Neue Musik. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  11. "2022 Arts Preview: The Year Ahead in Visual Art". Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  12. Houwen, Janna (2017). Film and Video Intermediality The Question of Medium Specificity in Contemporary Moving Images. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 120–125. ISBN 9781501320996. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  13. Barnett, Laura (13 March 2011). "Another view on Douglas Gordon's k.364". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
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