Anatoly Abramovich Levin (Anatoly Levin) |

Anatoly Levin

The famous Russian conductor and teacher Anatoly Levin was born on December 1, 1947 in Moscow. He graduated from the music school at the Moscow Conservatory. P.I. Tchaikovsky (1967) and the Moscow Conservatory (1972) in viola class with Professor E.V. Strakhov. At the same time, since 1970, he studied in the class of opera and symphony conducting with Professor L.M. Ginzburg (graduated in 1973). In January 1973, Anatoly Levin was invited by the famous opera and theater director Boris Pokrovsky to the Moscow Chamber Musical Theater, which had been created shortly before, and for almost 35 years he was the theater’s conductor. He took part in the staging and performance of such performances as “The Nose”, “Players”, “Anti-Formalist Raek”, “The Age of DSCH” by Shostakovich; “The Rake’s Adventures”, “The Tale…”, “The Wedding”, “The Story of a Soldier” by Stravinsky; operas by Haydn, Mozart, Bortnyansky, Schnittke, Kholminov, Denisov and others. He toured in many cities of the USSR and Russia, conducted in concert halls and opera houses in Europe, South America and Japan. His work (in particular, performances at the West Berlin Music Festival in 1976 and 1980, in France, Germany, the Brighton Music Festival in the UK, at the Colon Theater in Buenos Aires, La Fenice Theater in Venice, etc. ) was highly appreciated by foreign music critics.

The conductor’s discography includes recordings of operas by Bortnyansky, Mozart, Kholminov, Taktakishvili and other composers. In 1997, he recorded Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress on CD (Japanese company DME Classics Inc.). In Japan, video versions of Stravinsky’s “Tales …”, Kholminov’s “Weddings” and Mozart’s “Theater Director” were released. In 1995, together with the soloist of the Chamber Theater Alexei Mochalov and the Chamber Youth Orchestra, he recorded on CD works by Shostakovich for bass and chamber orchestra: “Anti-formalist Paradise”, music for the play “King Lear”, “Four Romances of Captain Lebyadkin”, “From the English Folk Poetry” (French-Russian company “Russian Seasons”). This sound recording received the Diapason d`or prize (December 1997) and the highest rating of the Monde de la Musique magazine.

Anatoly Levin has conducted such well-known ensembles as the State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra of Cinematography, the Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra, the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, as well as foreign ensembles in the USA and Mexico. Collaborated with such outstanding musicians as T. Alikhanov, V. Afanasiev, D. Bashkirov, E. Virsaladze, N. Gutman, A. Lyubimov, N. Petrov, A. Rudin, with laureates of international competitions S. Antonov, N. Borisoglebsky , A. Buzlov, A. Volodin, X. Gerzmava, J. Katsnelson, G. Murzha, A. Trostyansky, D. Shapovalov and other young soloists.

For many years Anatoly Levin has shown great interest in working with youth orchestras. Since 1991, he has led the symphony orchestra of the Musical College (now the Academic Music College) at the Moscow Conservatory, with which he regularly performs in the Great Hall of the Conservatory and in other concert halls in Moscow, in Russian cities, at music festivals in Düsseldorf, Usedom (Germany) , toured Germany and Belgium. The orchestra’s repertoire includes works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Dvorak, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mahler, Sibelius, Gershwin, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Shchedrin.

Since 2002, Anatoly Levin has been the artistic director and conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Students of the Moscow Conservatory, with which he has prepared many symphony programs, participated in the music festivals of Prokofiev, Stravinsky, “60 years of memory of Victory in the Great Patriotic War”, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Glinka, 250th anniversary of Mozart, 100th anniversary of Shostakovich.

Since 2002, he has been artistic director and chief conductor of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Volga region, the CIS countries and the Baltic States, with which he has performed in many cities of Russia, took part in festivals of the V. Spivakov Foundation, in the International Festival “Euroorchestry” in France (2004) and in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Ugra (2005). The orchestra toured in Kyiv, Paris (Saint-Georges Festival).

In January 2007, he performed as a guest conductor and teacher at the head of the Yale University Youth Symphony Orchestra (USA).

In July 2007, he led the preparation of the orchestra of the Moscow Conservatory for the production of Mozart’s opera “Everybody Do It” by Mozart (together with the Salzburg Mozarteum). The production premiered in August 2007 in Salzburg.

Since October 2007, Anatoly Levin has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Moscow State Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, whose goal, in addition to regular concert activity, is the professional training of students and graduate students-conductors. The orchestra regularly participates in the subscription programs of the Moscow Conservatory, collaborates with outstanding soloists and professors of the conservatory.

In the 2010–2011 season, the Moscow Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Anatoly Levin received a personal subscription of three concerts at the Moscow Philharmonic (the concerts were held at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall).

Since 2008, Anatoly Levin has been the initiator and artistic director of the Classics Over the Volga festival (Tolyatti).

Professor of the Department of Opera and Symphony Conducting of the Moscow Conservatory. Honored Artist of Russia (1997).

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website