Donwload – English biography
Ira Levin, internationally recognized for his versatility as a conductor of both the operatic and symphonic repertoire, and an award winning concert pianist, is now in his fourth season as chief conductor and artistic director of the Orchestra of the National Theater of Brazil, in the capital city of Brasilia.

He recorded a CD of works by the American composer Michael Colina with the London Symphony in January of 2010 and has performed with many orchestras and at opera houses throughout the world. These include appearances with the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra, the Düsseldorf Symphony, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, the Badische Staatskapelle of Karlsruhe, the Bremen Philharmonic, a tour of Holland with the Orchestra of the Hague Conservatory, the Dublin Opera, the Montpellier Opera, the Norske Opera in Oslo, the Norrlands Opera in Umea, Sweden, the Cape Town Opera, the National Symphony of Taiwan, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, the Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra of Rio and all of the other leading orchestras of Brazil. His highly successful South Korean debut took place with his Brasilia orchestra in two concerts at the National Theater of Korea, Seoul, in October of 2009. In 2010, he will make his conducting debuts with the Bogota Symphony, the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra in Lisbon and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra.

A Chicago native, he began piano lessons at age 9  and entered the Northwestern University School of Music’s program at age 12. At age 17 he began his piano studies with the legendary Jorge Bolet at Indiana University,  following him the next year to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he became Bolet’s teaching assistant as well. While at Curtis, he began studying conducting with Max Rudolf, had chamber music coachings with Mischa Schneider and Felix Galimir, appeared in performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety conducted by the composer and participated in master classes with Sergiu Celibidache.

Michael Gielen hired him as an assistant conductor at the Frankfurt Opera, where he remained from 1985-1988. He then went on to become principal conductor at the Bremen Opera 1988-1996 and principal conductor at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Duesseldorf-Duisburg 1996-2002. From 1994 until 1998 he was principal guest conductor at the Kassel Opera.

He was invited in 2001 to assume the post of music director and artistic director of the Theatro Municipal and the Municipal Orchestra in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the first American to head one of the most important opera houses in South America. He held this post from 2002 -2005, bringing the Municipal and its orchestra national and international acclaim. In November of 2004 Ira Levin and the Municipal Orchestra of Sao Paulo won the coveted Carlos Gomes award for the best orchestra in Brazil.

He has conducted more than 1000 performances of over 60 operas. His symphonic repertoire included most of the standard repertoire as well as many lesser-known works. He has worked with innumerable internationally renowned conductors, instrumentalists, singers and stage directors. He conducted Richard Strauss’s complete Bürger als Edelmann at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 2001, narrated by Sir Peter Ustinov.

In March 2002 Ira Levin made his highly successful debut at the Semper Opera, during the Dresden Opera Festival, conducting Tristan und Isolde on a few hour’s notice, with no rehearsal and to a glowing press. He was then invited back by the Semper Opera two days later to conduct Die Frau Ohne Schatten under the same circumstances.

He was invited by the Symphony Orchestra of Norrlands Opera in 2008 to record the 1899 first edition of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6, the first modern recording of that version. This was released in April of 2009 and garnered rave reviews from some of the world’s leading Bruckner scholars and the editors of the most important Bruckner discography on the Internet. He recorded the 1892 first edition of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2 with the same forces in February of 2010, the world premiere recording of that version.

An accomplished pianist, Ira Levin was the first-prize winner of the American National Chopin Competition in 1980. He concertized throughout the United States, South America, and Europe making radio and television appearances in Philadelphia, New York, Miami, Caracas, Edinburgh (BBC), Warsaw, and Lucerne. He continues to appear in recital and concert, often leading concertos from the keyboard as well. In 1991 he played Busoni’s monumental piano concerto in Lucerne.

An example of his extreme versatility took place in October of 2007, when, after a world-renowned pianist cancelled at short notice a performance of Brahms’ monumental piano concerto No.2 in Brasilia, Levin played and conducted the work himself by memory. His CD of “Ira Levin piano transcriptions” written and played by him, won the “Bravo” award in Brazil as best classical CD of 2007. It was also named by Gregor Benko, founder of the International Piano Archives, as “best classical piano CD of 2007”. A second CD, Ira Levin transcriptions for piano volume 2, will be released in 2011.

Fleur de Son Classics will begin to issue all of his CDs in the Spring of 2010, including those previously released on other labels.

Edition Tilli of Finland will publish a large collection of his piano transcriptions in 2010.

Atualmente Diretor Artístico e Maestro Titular da OSTNCS em Brasília, Ira Levin nasceu em Chicago, iniciando seus estudos de piano aos 9 anos. Ao completar 12 anos de idade, foi admitido na Northwestern University, tornando-se aluno de Donald Isaak. Prosseguiu seus estudos no Curtis Institute of Music na Philadelphia, com Jorge Bolet, cujo assistente tornou-se mais tarde. Ao mesmo tempo, em Curtis, começou a estudar regência com Max Rudolf, prática de música de câmara com Mischa Schneider e Felix Galimir. Foi solista ao piano da Era da Ansiedade, de Leonard Bernstein, regida pelo próprio compositor, que reconhecendo seu talento, recomendou-o para estudar na Europa. Na mesma época estudou e participou das master classes do maestro Sergiu Celibidache. Ganhador do primeiro prêmio do Concurso Nacional Americano Chopin, em 1980, Ira Levin deu concertos e recitais nos Estados Unidos, Europa e América do Sul, com repertório muito amplo, freqüentemente regendo e tocando ao mesmo tempo.

Levin regeu óperas e concertos sinfônicos, o que inclui aparições com a Staatskapelle de Dresden, a Gewandhaus de Leipzig, a Orquestra do Museu de Frankfurt, a Sinfônica de Düsseldorf, a Filarmônica de Duisburg, a Orquestra Bruckner de Linz, a Badische Staatskapelle de Karlsruhe, as orquestras da ópera de Dublin, Montpellier e Oslo, Orquestra a Sinfônica Nacional de Taipei e a Filarmônica de Buenos Aires.Ira Levin regeu mais de mil récitas de ópera, num repertório que inclui em torno de sessenta títulos de Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, R. Strauss e Janácek, assim como obras raramente ouvidas de Nielsen, Busoni, Frank Martin, Pfitzner, Prokofiev e Braunfels. Da mesma forma, o seu repertório sinfônico abarca a maior parte das obras básicas e muitas que são menos conhecidas. Foi contratado por Michael Gielen como maestro assistente da Ópera de Frankfurt, onde ficou entre 1985-1988; depois, foi maestro titular na Ópera de Bremen (1988-1996) e na Deutsche Oper am Rhein, de Düsseldorf (1996-2002), e principal regente convidado na Ópera de Kassel (1994-1998). Com a narração de Sir Peter Ustinov, dirigiu montagens da integral do Burguês Fidalgo, de Richard Strauss, e um programa duplo com A Sombra do Burro, também de R. Strauss, e o Carnaval dos Animais, de Saint-Saëns, ambos os espetáculos em Düsseldorf (2001 e 2002). Estreou na Semper Ópera de Dresden (Março de 2002) com Tristão e Isolda e A Mulher sem Sombra, de Richard Strauss. Depois de um bem-sucedido concerto em setembro de 2001, Ira Levin foi convidado a assumir o cargo de diretor musical do Theatro Municipal e da Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal de São Paulo, onde permaneceu de 2002 a 2005. Sob sua direção, a orquestra ganhou em 2004, o Prêmio Carlos Gomes, como a melhor orquestra do Brasil.Em seus programas, inclui várias primeiras audições brasileiras, de obras de Nielsen, Reger, Berlioz, Shostakóvitch, Mahler, Janácek, Schoenberg, um ciclo Brahms completo, e um ciclo Mahler. Regeu a primeira montagem brasileira de uma ópera de Janácek – Jenufa, in 2003 – e dirigiu também Madame Butterfly, Falstaff, Salome, Le nozze di Figaro, Macbeth, Samson et Dalila, Don Carlos e Lohengrin. Gravou seu primeiro CD com transcrições para piano de obras de Bach, Wagner, Tchaikovsky e Villa-Lobos. O CD foi lançado no Brasil, Europa, EUA e Ásia, e recebeu o Prêmio Bravo! Prime de Cultura como o melhor disco erudito de 2007.No segundo semestre de 2006, regeu uma temporada no Cape Town Opera, África do Sul, e depois na Suécia com a Norrlands Opera. Em outubro de 2008 regeu as Óperas Lady Macbeth de Mtsensk, de Shostakovich e Die Frau Ohne Schatten, de Richard Strauss na Deutsche Oper am Rhein de Düsseldorf, onde retornou em maio 2009 para reger Boris Godunov, de Mussorgski.A convite da Norrlands Symphony Orchestra, gravou a Sexta Sinfonia de Bruckner. O CD recebeu aclamações da crítica especializada e em 2010 retorna a Suécia para reger concerto e gravar a Segunda Sinfonia de Bruckner.