Biography

Adam Levin, a Naxos Recording Artist, has been praised by renowned American guitarist, Eliot Fisk, as a “virtuoso guitarist and a true 21^st century renaissance man with the élan, intelligence, charm, tenacity and conviction to change the world”.  Mr. Levin has performed across the United States and Europe at renowned venues such as Chicago’s Pick Staiger, James Lumber Performing Arts and Mayne Stage concert halls, at the Palazzo Chigi Saracini in Italy, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Jordan Hall, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Berlin Universität für Musik und darstellende Künst, the Barcelona Auditorio Axa, and in Madrid at the Palacio de Godoy, BBVA Palacio del Marqués de Salamanca, and Sala Manuel de Falla.

The recipient of numerous top prizes, Adam Levin has been recognized by Asociación Cultural Trujamán, the Society of American Musicians, the Lake Forest Concerto Competition, Minnesota’s Schubert Competition, Boston GuitarFest, Concurso Internacional de les Corts para Jóvenes Intérpretes in Barcelona, Concurso Internazionale Di Gargnano, and Certamen Internacional Luys Milan de Guitarra in Valencia.

Levin has been guest artist on a variety of music series, including Madrid’s Sociedad Española de Guitarra, Conciertos en Palacios and Festival Clásicos en Verano, Valencia’s Amigos de la Guitarra, Boston GuitarFest, L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and Festival Pro Música e Cultura in St.Moritz. 

An avid chamber musician, Levin has performed with orchestra, string quartet, and various duo combinations.  Adam and Spanish clarinetist, Cristo Barrios, present transcriptions from the traditional repertoire while commissioning new works by prominent Spanish and Latin American composers.  Adam Levin and violinist, William Knuth as Duo Sonidos, bring a fresh interpretation of classical music to wide-ranging audiences across the globe, while expanding the repertoire for violin and guitar through new commissions by composers such as, Eduardo Morales-Caso, Jan Freidlin, Jorge Sastre, Jorge Muñiz, Tal Hurwitz and Jorge Variego.  The duo’s debut CD, Duo Sonidos, released in 2010, features works by Salvador Brotons, Eduardo Morales-Caso, Manuel de Falla, and Astor Piazzolla.  In December 2010, Duo Sonidos was awarded first prize at the Luys Milán International Chamber Music Competition in Valencia, Spain.

Levin’s debut record In the Beginning was lauded as “absolutely thrilling…will dazzle and entertain at every possible opportunity” by Minor 7^th Acoustic Guitar Music Reviews.  The record, Music from Out of Time, sponsored by La Communidad de Madrid, boasts world-premiere recordings by contemporary Spanish composers Eduardo Morales-Caso, Leonardo Balada, Mario Gosalvez-Blanco, David Del Puerto, and José María Sánchez Verdú. A fourth recording, Fuego de la luna, showcasing the complete guitar works of Spanish-Cuban composer, Eduardo Morales-Caso, was released on Verso Records in July 2011.  In 2012, production will begin on a four volume encyclopedic recording project with Naxos and companion publication with Brotons y Mercadal Edicions Musicals, presenting the 30 Spanish works recently commissioned as part of Levin’s residency in Spain.  

As an ambassador of the guitar, Mr. Levin is dedicated to sharing a comprehensive repertoire in underserved areas and unconventional spaces.  As part of a fundraising effort for Hurricane Katrina victims, Adam directed the Concert for Gulf-Coast Aid, which raised $10,000 dollars for hurricane relief.  He was awarded an Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, encompassing 200 hours of innovative community work in Boston area schools, homeless shelters, rehabilitation centers, halfway houses, and prisons. 

In 2008, Levin was honored as a Fulbright Scholar in the field of music performance, researching contemporary Spanish guitar repertoire in Madrid, Spain.  In collaboration with the Spanish and American embassies, Levin has continued outreach performances in Madrid at a number of bilingual school programs, introducing both American and Spanish classical guitar repertoire to students.  In 2009, he was awarded the Program for Cultural Cooperation Fellowship, promoting cultural understanding between Spain and the United States. In May 2010, Levin was awarded the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, continuing his research and performance of contemporary Spanish music in Madrid.  For his promotion, interpretation and performance of Spanish music, he was nominated for the 2011 Trujamán Prize, in which only three guitarists worldwide are selected annually.

A native of Chicago’s North Shore, Adam holds BM and BA degrees from Northwestern University in Music Performance, Psychology, and Pre-Med.  Under the tutelage of Eliot Fisk, Levin completed a MM at New England Conservatory in Boston.  His esteemed teachers have included Oscar Ghiglia, Gabriel Estarellas, Anne Waller, Mark Maxwell, and Paul Henry.  Adam is currently the co-director of the music program, Boston Guitar Immersion, which offers comprehensive guitar instruction to independent schools.

Awards

Trujamán Nomination for interpretation of Spanish Music
Spain, 2011

1^st Prize: IX Luys Milan International Chamber Music Competition
Spain, 2010

Prize Winner: XXXIV Concorso Internazionale Di Gargnano
Italy, 2009

Prize Winner: in X Concurso Internacional de les Corts
Spain, 2009

Prize Winner: Boston GuitarFest
Boston, 2007

1^st Prize: Schubert Guitar Competition
St. Paul, 2005

1^st Prize: Society of American Musicians Competition
Chicago, 2000

Distinctions

1^st Prize: Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship and Competition
Spain, 2010- 2011

Fulbright Scholarship
Spain, 2008-2010

Program for Cultural Cooperation Fellowship
Spain, 2009

Diploma di Merito: L’Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Siena, Italy, 2005-2008

Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
Boston, 2007–2008

Commissions

Adam Levin has active professional relationships with the foremost Spanish composers of the last four generations. With the support of the Fulbright Scholarship, the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship and the US and Spanish embassies, he has commissioned 30 new works for the solo guitar, each of which will be premiered on four new recordings and published in a seven volume manuscript series. He has already premiered a number of these works in countries such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany and the United states.

Commissions Pending:

-José María Sánchez-Verdú
-Consuelo Diez
-Daniel Mateos

Teaching

In addition to performing and giving master classes, Adam Levin is dedicated to teaching the next generation of aspiring musicians.  He has over 10 years' experience teaching both children and adults through his private studio and various teaching appointments in the United States and abroad. He has made it his mission as well to teach adolescents and adults in underserved areas in Chicago, Boston and throughout Spain.  Adam is a firm believer in the democratic quality of the guitar, its blindness to culture, race and class and its unique potential for bringing serious music to persons who might not otherwise seek exposure to it.  With this in mind, Adam Levin has sought out students speaking English as a second language, especially the large Spanish-speaking population in America.  Having lived abroad in Spain for three years as a Fulbright Scholar and guitar professor, he now teaches lessons in both English and Spanish. Lessons are taught in a way that inspires both a sense of mastery and enjoyment in the understanding and performance of music.  Finding each students’s aesthetic niche, creating a manageable practice regimen, developing technical facility and formulating sound musical interpretation are all a part of Adam Levin's approach to teaching the guitar.