Levy: Cello Concerto

Son of the distinguished Swiss composer, pianist, and teacher Ernst Levy, Frank Ezra Levy was born in Paris on 15th October, 1930, and came to New York in 1939. He began cello lessons at the age of ten, and at twelve he began studies in theory and composition with Hugo Kauder, which continued for nine years. After graduating from the High School of Music and Art, Levy attended the Juilliard School of Music and the University of Chicago. His major cello teachers were Leonard Rose and Janos Starker. A former member of the St Louis Symphony and the Feldman Chamber Ensemble, Frank Ezra Levy is still a professional cellist, and continues to compose. Large works include a four-act comic opera, a cantata, four symphonies, several other orchestral pieces, and eight concertos. All the rest of his 88 published works are chamber music, an extraordinary variety of pieces for 1-15 instruments, often in highly unusual combinations. Notable premières of Frank Levy's music include his Third Symphony at Carnegie Hall (1989), the Holocaust Triptych at Manhattan School of Music (1993), his First Cello Concerto at Lincoln Center (2002) and Apostrophe No. 3 for 15 solo strings, at Music Festival of the Hamptons (2004). Currently available among his recorded works are the Fourth Symphony and First Cello Concerto. LP recordings include the Violin Duo, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Suite for Horn and Piano, Adagio and Rondo for Two Clarinets and Bass Clarinet, and the Brass Quintet.