A440 Arts Group Signs Guitarist Adam Levin

A440 Arts Group is proud to welcome guitarist and Naxos recording artist Adam Levin to its growing roster of composers, classical musicians, and ensembles for booking, management, and publicity in North America. A440 will also manage and represent Duo Sonidos, a duo-ensemble featuring Adam Levin and violinist William Knuth.

Adam Levin has been praised by renowned American guitarist Eliot Fisk as a “virtuoso guitarist and a true 21st century renaissance man with the élan, intelligence, charm, tenacity and conviction to change the world.” Levin’s debut album, "In the Beginning," was praised as “absolutely thrilling…will dazzle and entertain at every possible opportunity” by Minor 7th Acoustic Guitar Music Reviews.

Levin has embarked on expanding the guitar repertoire through collaborations with thirty renowned contemporary Spanish composers. His second album, "Music from Out of Time," featured world premiere recordings by contemporary Spanish composers Eduardo Morales-Caso, Leonardo Balada, Mario Gosalvez-Blanco, David Del Puerto, and José María Sánchez Verdú. His most recent solo recording on Verso Records, "Fuego de la Luna," showcased the complete guitar works of Morales-Caso. “Guitarist Adam Levin delivers a brilliant performance throughout and will no doubt become the authority on what is likely to be a popular addition to many concerts, recitals, and recordings.” (Classical Guitar Magazine) In September 2012, Levin begins recording a four- volume solo CD series on the Naxos label and a companion publication with Brotons y Mercadal Edicions Musicals, presenting the thirty Spanish works commissioned while in residency in Spain from 2008-2011.

Levin has performed across the United States and Europe at renowned venues such as Chicago’s Pick Staiger 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 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. 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.

An avid chamber musician, Levin has performed with orchestra, string quartet, and various duo combinations. Levin and Spanish clarinetist Cristo Barrios present transcriptions from the traditional repertoire while commissioning new works by prominent Spanish and Latin American composers. As one of the two members of Duo Sonidos with violinist William Knuth, Levin is bringing 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 Variego, Ricardo Llorca, and Boris Gaquere. The duo’s debut CD, "Duo Sonidos," released in fall 2010, features works by Astor Piazzolla, Salvador Brotons, Eduardo Morales-Caso, and Manuel de Falla. In December 2010, Duo Sonidos was awarded first prize at the Luys Milán International Chamber Music Competition in Valencia, Spain.

As an ambassador of the guitar, Levin is dedicated to sharing a comprehensive repertoire in underserved areas and unconventional spaces. In 2005, as part of a fundraising effort for Hurricane Katrina victims, Adam Levin directed the Concert for Gulf-Coast Aid, which raised $10,000 dollars for hurricane relief. In 2007-08 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. 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.

A native of Chicago’s North Shore, Levin 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 Levin was professor of guitar at Amadeus Escuela de Música in Madrid, Spain and is currently the co- director of the music program, Boston Guitar Immersion, which offers comprehensive guitar instruction to independent schools.