At age 27, American pianist MAX LEVINSON is developing an international reputation as an intelligent and sensitive artist with a fearless technique. He has been hailed by critics for musical maturity beyond his years.

Born in the Netherlands and raised in Los Angeles, he began studying piano at age five. Before pursuing a full-time musical career, Levinson attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude with a degree in English Literature. He later completed his graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music as a student of Patricia Zander, and received an Artist Diploma and the Gunther Schuller Medal, an award given to the school’s top graduate student. In May 1997, he was named First Prize Winner of the prestigious Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, becoming the first American to achieve this distinction. Levinson has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. An active chamber musician and recitalist, he has collaborated with many leading artists and has performed in cities throughout the United States and abroad, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Miami, Tokyo, Geneva, and Dublin. He makes regular appearances at major music festivals, including the Santa Fe and La Jolla Chamber Music Festivals, Marlboro, Tanglewood, and the Davos Festival in Switzerland.

Levinson gave his New York debut recital at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in February 1998, performing an ambitious program which included Schubert’s Wandererfantasie, Chopin’s 24 Preludes, and Leon Kirchner’s Five Pieces for Piano. The recital was a critical success and received a standing ovation. Last summer, he made his debut appearance at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

Highlights of his 1999/2000 season include debuts with the New World Symphony, appearances at Kennedy Center, Tonhalle (Zurich), Lincoln Center, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and this week’s Music Center debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as solo recitals in London, New York, Boston, Madison, and Dublin.

Max Levinson is an exclusive artist for the N2K Encoded Music label; his first two discs were released to overwhelming critical acclaim. Max Levinson, his acclaimed debut recording that was released a month following his first-prize triumph in Dublin, is a program that traces the musical lineage between Brahms, Schumann, Schoenberg, and Kirchner.

Levinson has also recorded the Brahms Horn Trio with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for the Stereophile label, and the violin sonatas of Debussy, Janác?ek, and Prokofiev with violinist Andrew Kohji Taylor for the Warner Classics label.

Strongly committed to nurturing young audiences, Levinson is an active participant in the Grammy-in-the-Schools program throughout the United States. He has experimented with Internet broadcast, served as Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Lowell House for four years, and is frequently featured on National Public Radio’s nationally syndicated programs, “Performance Today” and “A Note to You.” In 1997, he was pronounced “Best Debut Artist” by The Boston Globe and was added to Steinway’s distinguished roster of artists. Max Levinson makes his home in Somerville, Massachusetts and is married to cellist Allison Eldredge.

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