Levine, Gilbert
Levine, Gilbert
Levine, Gilbert, American conductor; b. N.Y., Jan. 22, 1948. He attended Reed Coll. (1965–67) and the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1967–68), then studied music history with Mendel and Lockwood, conducting with Monod, and theory with Babbitt and Randall at Princeton Univ. (A.B., 1971), completing his study of theory at Yale Univ. (M.A., 1972). He also received instruction in conducting from Ferrara in Siena. In 1973 he made his professional debut as a guest conductor with the Nouvel Orch. Philharmonique de Radio France in Paris; then toured widely as a guest conductor, appearing in Europe and North America. In 1987 he became music director of the Kraków Phil., the first American conductor to hold such a position with a major Eastern European orch. He left his Kraków post in 1991 and was named its conductor laureate-honored guest conductor. In 1993 he conducted it on a tour of the U.S. On April 7, 1994, Levine conducted the Royal Phil, of London and the choir of St. Peter’s Basilica in a concert of reconciliation for the victims of the Holocaust in the presence of Pope John Paul II in Rome. On Dec. 19, 1994, Levine became only the 4th Jew in history to receive the papal Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire