Master Artist
Eugene Levinson, recently retired principal bass of the New York Philharmonic, enjoys a worldwide career as soloist and teacher. Born in Kiev, he graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory with a D.M.A. and upon graduation became its youngest faculty member.
In 1985 Mr. Levinson joined the New York Philharmonic and has appeared frequently as a soloist with the orchestra. He has performed the Koussevitzky Concerto and the Tubin Concerto and appeared in a PBS Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of Mozart’s “Per Questa Bella Mano” with Thomas Quasthoff and Ricardo Muti. A member of The Juilliard School bass faculty since 1985, he was co-chair of the bass department from 1992-2002. He has also been a faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Sarasota Music Festival since 1979. Mr. Levinson has led master classes, coachings and workshops at Tokyo’s Toho School of Music, The Hague State Conservatory, Madrid’s Reina Sofia Superior, Lausanne’s Conservatory of Music, and Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Festival in Virginia. Many of his students are members of the world’s most prestigious orchestras. In 2003 Mr. Levinson received the Special Recognition Award in Orchestral Performance from the International Society of Bassists.
Mr. Levinson’s recordings are available on the Cala label. Earlier recordings, remastered for CD by Carl Fischer, were released in 2004. His publications include a technical method book entitled The School of Agility (published by Carl Fischer), Misek Sonata #2 in E minor (International), J.C. Bach Adagio (International), Franck Sonata (Musici), and Per Questa Bella Mano (Carl Fischer). After many years of maintaining a duel schedule of teaching and playing in the orchestra, Mr. Levinson is delighted to now be able to devote his time exclusively to teaching, publishing, and influencing the broader discourse of bass pedagogy.
In December 2011 he served as a judge for the IV International Serge Koussevitzky Double Bass Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also served as a judge for the VII International Johann-Matthias-Sperger-competition for Double Bass in Schloss Burg Namedy/Andernach, Germany. Mr. Levinson is currently working with Boosey and Hawkes on a book of orchestral excerpts designed to instruct advanced students and professionals in the art of orchestral auditions.
Currently, Mr. Levinson is part of the Guest Artist double bass program at Florida International University in Miami, Florida and also guest principal double bass with the Miami Symphony Orchestra.
