Born: 1951, Westport, Connecticut

"I have always felt, even before my studies of Balinese gamelan, that the complex overtones of resonating metallic sonorities contain a kind of magical power, a sense of mystery, of immense spans of time and space."

From the outset of a remarkably productive career, Levinson has embraced an inclusive approach to musical language. "His style, combining a highly expanded modern tonality with memories of the metallophones of Bali, is very beautiful, very original, sometimes powerful, always moving," Olivier Messiaen wrote. Another significant influence has been Balinese music. Levinson's monumental Second Symphony was premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Simon Rattle in January 1995, and the L.A. Philharmonic New Music Group co-commissioned Levinson's Time and the Bell… in 1999.

Further listening:

• Black Magic/White Magic (mezzo-soprano and orchestra, 1981)
  
  Beavon, Orchestra 2001, Freeman (CRI)





• Dreamlight (cello, piano, and percussion, 1990)
  
  Emilianof, Basquin, Hostetter, Ramirez (CRI)