Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. Welcomes Frank Lévy To Artist Roster
NEW YORK CITY Swiss-American pianist Frank Lévy joins Yamaha's ever-growing roster of classical music artists, which includes such greats as Abbey Simon, Oxana Yablonskaya, Olga Kern, Frederic Chiu, Maria João Pires, as well as pop greats Elton John, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones.
Hailed by audiences and critics alike as an artist of rare poetic insight and communicative powers, Lévy is most impressed with the ability of Yamaha pianos to complement any musical style or composer. Reminiscing on his first encounter with the Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand piano, Lévy recalls, "It felt as if I were given a great palette of colors. It was an unbelievable experience that left a very deep impression."
After making his home in New York, Levy became the proud owner of a Yamaha Silent Series piano and a Yamaha P140 keyboard. Thanks to the phenomenal sampling of these two instruments, Levy has been able to practice quietly at night while feeling as though he were in a great concert hall playing on a grand piano. Levy embraces the role that technology plays in the realm of musical instrument manufacturing. He notes. "I love technology because I believe that it makes artists freer. The more advanced the technology is, the closer we are to reality and, therefore, to life.
"The range of a Yamaha piano is limited only by one's imagination," continues Levy. "Yamaha pays attention to detail and continually improves its instruments, as work in progress. As pianists, we depend most on the mechanism itself. So the mechanism must be of the first order. I have never encountered another instrument that is mechanically as reliable and responsive as Yamaha, producing colors ranging from the softest, whispering, clarinet-like pianissimo to a powerful yet lyrical, orchestral-like fortissimo."
Levy's relationship with Yamaha first began when he met one of Yamaha's master tuners, Kaz Tsujio, whom he describes as "one of the greatest artists I know." Since then Levy has participated in the Piano Salon's highly successful concert series, including the most recent Liszt and Beethoven cycles presented by another Yamaha artist, Lisa Yui. "Thanks to James Steeber, the Director of Yamaha Artists Services," notes Levy, "I am now a part of Yamaha's family."
A semi-finalist in the Leeds and Clara Haskil international piano competitions, Lévy's international career as a recitalist has encompassed performances in Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Gusman Hall in Miami, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, The Gardner Hall in Salt Lake City, and the Stadthaussaal in Winterthur.
Levy has performed under the batons of Louis Langrée, Mehli Mehta, Paul Dunkel, David Josefowitz, Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, Ya-Hui Wang, Martin Stüder and other conductors. An active chamber musician, Lévy has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Tibor-Varga Festival in Switzerland, the Alex de Vries Festival in Belgium, and the Thonon Festival in France. Lévy also collaborates with The Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, The Music of the Spheres Society, The Alcan Quartet and Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc.
Lévy is currently recording complete piano works of Schubert and Brahms for the Canadian label, Palexa. His recordings and live performances have been broadcast by WQXR in New York City, the BBC in London, the RSR in Switzerland and the CBC in Canada.
Lévy has been a member of the Juilliard School Pre-College faculty since 1995 and is currently on the faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College. He is regularly invited to give master classes and lectures at the University of Miami, Barry University, the University of Utah for Gina Bachauer Foundation, Florida International University, Bishop's University in Canada and at the Geneva and Bern Conservatories. Lévy has served as an adjudicator on many competitions in the United States and Europe, including the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.
A native of Switzerland, Lévy entered the Geneva Conservatory at the age of fifteen and earned bachelor's and master's degrees studying with renowned pianist and pedagogue Louis Hiltbrand, and a doctorate in performance studying with Maria Tipo. After winning the Kiefer Hablitzel Prize, Lévy went to study with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, from which he received the Artist Diploma in 1990. He studied collaborative piano with Samuel Sanders and Margo Garrett in the Professional Studies Program at the Juilliard School, where he also worked with Emanuel Ax. Lévy also studied with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, Dorothy Taubman in New York, Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia in London.
Lévy lives in New York City with his wife, Ilana, who is Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at NYU School of Medicine, and their two children, Dalia and David. For information about Frank Lévy's upcoming concerts, please visit his website at www.FrankLevy.com.
Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. recently welcomed the newly launched Artist Services facility in London to its expanding global network. First established in 1987 in Paris, the network now includes locations in New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul. Like its sister locations, the new facility, based at Chappell Yamaha London on Wardour Street, functions as a vibrant international hub providing musicians, teachers, promoters and students access to the best quality concert instruments matched by top-level technical service.
To learn more, visit www.yamaha.com/yasi.
 Yamaha Artist Frank Levy |
After making his home in New York, Levy became the proud owner of a Yamaha Silent Series piano and a Yamaha P140 keyboard. Thanks to the phenomenal sampling of these two instruments, Levy has been able to practice quietly at night while feeling as though he were in a great concert hall playing on a grand piano. Levy embraces the role that technology plays in the realm of musical instrument manufacturing. He notes. "I love technology because I believe that it makes artists freer. The more advanced the technology is, the closer we are to reality and, therefore, to life.
"The range of a Yamaha piano is limited only by one's imagination," continues Levy. "Yamaha pays attention to detail and continually improves its instruments, as work in progress. As pianists, we depend most on the mechanism itself. So the mechanism must be of the first order. I have never encountered another instrument that is mechanically as reliable and responsive as Yamaha, producing colors ranging from the softest, whispering, clarinet-like pianissimo to a powerful yet lyrical, orchestral-like fortissimo."
Levy's relationship with Yamaha first began when he met one of Yamaha's master tuners, Kaz Tsujio, whom he describes as "one of the greatest artists I know." Since then Levy has participated in the Piano Salon's highly successful concert series, including the most recent Liszt and Beethoven cycles presented by another Yamaha artist, Lisa Yui. "Thanks to James Steeber, the Director of Yamaha Artists Services," notes Levy, "I am now a part of Yamaha's family."
A semi-finalist in the Leeds and Clara Haskil international piano competitions, Lévy's international career as a recitalist has encompassed performances in Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Gusman Hall in Miami, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, The Gardner Hall in Salt Lake City, and the Stadthaussaal in Winterthur.
Levy has performed under the batons of Louis Langrée, Mehli Mehta, Paul Dunkel, David Josefowitz, Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, Ya-Hui Wang, Martin Stüder and other conductors. An active chamber musician, Lévy has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Tibor-Varga Festival in Switzerland, the Alex de Vries Festival in Belgium, and the Thonon Festival in France. Lévy also collaborates with The Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, The Music of the Spheres Society, The Alcan Quartet and Quatuor Arthur-Leblanc.
Lévy is currently recording complete piano works of Schubert and Brahms for the Canadian label, Palexa. His recordings and live performances have been broadcast by WQXR in New York City, the BBC in London, the RSR in Switzerland and the CBC in Canada.
Lévy has been a member of the Juilliard School Pre-College faculty since 1995 and is currently on the faculty of the CUNY Graduate Center and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College. He is regularly invited to give master classes and lectures at the University of Miami, Barry University, the University of Utah for Gina Bachauer Foundation, Florida International University, Bishop's University in Canada and at the Geneva and Bern Conservatories. Lévy has served as an adjudicator on many competitions in the United States and Europe, including the Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition.
A native of Switzerland, Lévy entered the Geneva Conservatory at the age of fifteen and earned bachelor's and master's degrees studying with renowned pianist and pedagogue Louis Hiltbrand, and a doctorate in performance studying with Maria Tipo. After winning the Kiefer Hablitzel Prize, Lévy went to study with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, from which he received the Artist Diploma in 1990. He studied collaborative piano with Samuel Sanders and Margo Garrett in the Professional Studies Program at the Juilliard School, where he also worked with Emanuel Ax. Lévy also studied with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, Dorothy Taubman in New York, Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia in London.
Lévy lives in New York City with his wife, Ilana, who is Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at NYU School of Medicine, and their two children, Dalia and David. For information about Frank Lévy's upcoming concerts, please visit his website at www.FrankLevy.com.
Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. recently welcomed the newly launched Artist Services facility in London to its expanding global network. First established in 1987 in Paris, the network now includes locations in New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul. Like its sister locations, the new facility, based at Chappell Yamaha London on Wardour Street, functions as a vibrant international hub providing musicians, teachers, promoters and students access to the best quality concert instruments matched by top-level technical service.
To learn more, visit www.yamaha.com/yasi.