Ilya Levinson

Ilya Levinson is a Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, and educator based in Chicago, where he has lived since 1988. His diverse body of work spans opera, musical theatre, symphonic and chamber music, film scores, and original music for theatre productions, reflecting a deep engagement with both classical traditions and vernacular musical languages.

Levinson’s works have been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East by ensembles including the Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Yaroslavl Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic, CUBE Ensemble, and the New Music Ensembles of the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. His music has also been championed by distinguished performers such as violinist David Yonan; pianists Susan Merdinger and Stéphane Seban; and cellists Lisa Erbes, Ian Maksin, and Rebecca Zimmerman. In July 2019, he served as composer-in-residence at the Saillagouse en Concert festival in France.

A significant thread in Levinson’s work is his engagement with Jewish musical traditions, particularly Klezmer. His musical American Klezmer, created in collaboration with Joanne Koch (book) and Owen Kalt (lyrics), was produced in Los Angeles by the West Coast Jewish Theatre. Their later collaboration, Raunchy Little Musical, directed and produced by Jimmy Ferraro, premiered in Long Island, New York, in 2018 and was noted by Broadway World for its “original catchy score.”

Levinson’s Klezmer Rhapsody, recorded by the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band and released on the Shanachie label, was praised by Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein as “deeply rooted in Eastern European Yiddish folk and dance culture… frisky and fun.” As a scholar, Levinson is the author of the article Kashchey in Blue: The Rimsky-Korsakov–Schillinger–Gershwin Connection, published in the proceedings of the international conference Rimsky-Korsakov and His Heritage in Historical Perspective.

He is the music director, arranger, and pianist of the New Budapest Orpheum Society, an ensemble-in-residence at the University of Chicago dedicated to the music of the Jewish cabaret. Their Cedille Records release, As Dreams Fall Apart: The Golden Age of Jewish Film and Stage Music (1925–1955), received a Grammy nomination in 2016.

Levinson wrote additional music for Marian Marzynski’s acclaimed PBS documentary “Shtetl” which premiered on Frontline in 1996.

Levinson is also composer-in-residence with American Music Festivals, an organization devoted to promoting cultural exchange through American music. He is Professor Emeritus at Columbia College Chicago, where he taught composition and mentored generations of young composers.