Ilya Levinson was born in the former U.S.S.R. and graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory as a composer. In 1988 he immigrated to the United States, and in 1997 he earned a doctorate in composition at the University of Chicago, where now serves as Lecturer in Music and Instructor in the College.
Levinson's works have been performed in Russia by a variety of ensembles and in Chicago by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble, and Northwestern University. In 1994 he was a winner of the Midwest Composers Competition, and in 1997 he received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Music Composition. Levinson is currently composer-in-residence with American Music Festivals.
His recent composition Colors of the Day for soprano, flute, viola and harp was performed at Momenta Dance Academy of Oak Park. Levinson's research interests include Klezmer music and the Klezmer idiom in contemporary concert music, as well as the Schillinger System of Musical Composition and it's application in the music of George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess in particular. He is Music Director and pianist of New Budapest Orpheum Society, a group performing music of Jewish Cabaret and political songs from the turn of the 20th century to the present.
Ilya Levinson
Biography
Ilya Levinson was born in the former U.S.S.R. and graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory as a composer. In 1988 he immigrated to the United States, and in 1997 he earned a doctorate in composition at the University of Chicago, where now serves as Lecturer in Music and Instructor in the College.
Levinson's works have been performed in Russia by a variety of ensembles and in Chicago by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble, and Northwestern University. In 1994 he was a winner of the Midwest Composers Competition, and in 1997 he received an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Music Composition. Levinson is currently composer-in-residence with American Music Festivals.
His recent composition Colors of the Day for soprano, flute, viola and harp was performed at Momenta Dance Academy of Oak Park. Levinson's research interests include Klezmer music and the Klezmer idiom in contemporary concert music, as well as the Schillinger System of Musical Composition and it's application in the music of George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess in particular. He is Music Director and pianist of New Budapest Orpheum Society, a group performing music of Jewish Cabaret and political songs from the turn of the 20th century to the present.
(from music.uchicago.edu)