Ilya Levinson

Biography

Grammy-nominated artist, and composer Ilya Levinson lives in Chicago since 1988.  Ilya Levinson graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory as a composer, where he studied composition with Alexander Pirumov and orchestration with Edison Denisov. After immigrating to the United States in 1988, Levinson completed a Ph.D. in Composition at the University of Chicago where his training included instruction from Ralph Shapey, Shulamit Ran, John Eaton, and Howard Sandroff.

. Levinson’s catalogue includes operas, musicals, symphonic and chamber music, film scores and original music for theatre productions. His works were performed in the US, Europe, and Middle East by the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Yaroslavl Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic, CUBE Ensemble, New Music Ensembles of The University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Duo Montagnard, Duo Voronkov, Atar Trio, violinist David Yonan, pianists Susan Merdinger and Stéphane Seban, cellists Lisa Erbes, Ian Maksin, and Rebecca Zimmerman, West Coast Jewish Theatre, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre among others.

Ilya Levinson was a winner of the 1994 Midwest Composers Competition and recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Fellowships in Music Composition in 1997 and 2003. His “Klezmer Rhapsody”, recorded by the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band and was released on the Shanachie label.A sought-after orchestrator, Levinson worked on Bockchoy Variations by Evan Chen for the Minnesota Opera, Glass House by Ellen Gould for Northlight Theatre, Skokie, IL, and Voices, a CD by Michael Reily.Levinson’s film credits include additional music for Shtetl (WBGH Frontline); Cleared for Landing (Discovery); 1998-2000 fundraising videos for the Jewish United Fund, Chicago. He has also worked for Kartemquin Educational Films, Chicago. Levinson wrote the article Kashchey In Blue: The Rimsky-Korsakov-Schillinger-Gershwin Connection, published in the proceedings of the Rimsky-Korsakov and His Heritage in Historical Perspective conference.Levinson is Music Director and Co-Founder of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, an ensemble-in-residence at The University of Chicago. The group specializes in performing music of the Jewish Cabaret. Their three CD’s: Dancing on the Edge of the Volcano and Jewish Cabaret in Exile, and As Dreams Fall Apart: The Golden Age of Jewish Film and Stage Music (1925-1955) are recorded on the Cedille label. Their last CD was Grammy nominated in 2016. Ilya Levinson is composer-in-residence with American Music Festivals, an organization committed to promoting cultural exchange and American music. In July 2019 Levinson was composer-in-residence at Saillagouse en Concert, music festival in Saillagouse, France. Levinson was featured on WFMT's Relevant Tones show on Saturday, August 31, 2013. Listen to the interview on visit WFMT's Relevant Tones webpage. Levinson's works were presented May 11-12, 2014, by Chicago Sinfonietta in Identities, an orchestral program exploring cultural convergences. 

His musical American Klezmer (written in collaboration with Joanne Koch, book and Owen Kalt, lyrics) was produced in Los Angeles in 2006 by West Coast Jewish Theatre; the team’s Raunchy Little Musical, directed and produced by Jimmy Ferraro, opened in June 2018 in Long Island, NY, Broadway World describes the show as featuring “an original catchy score”.

Levinson’s Klezmer Rhapsody recorded by the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band is released on the Shanachie label. John von Rhein of Chicago Tribune describes the piece as “deeply rooted in Eastern European Yiddish folk and dance culture, …frisky and fun…”In June 2024 Levinson attended an International Gugak workshop in Seoul, South Korea.

Degrees

Diploma, Music Theory Ippolitov-Ivanov Moscow Municipal Music College 1981
M.A., Composer and Teacher of Music Theory State Conservatory of Music 1986
Ph.D., Music University of Chicago 1997