Todd Levy — Clarinet
Todd Levy is an acclaimed clarinetist, widely recognized for his artistry as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. He currently serves as Principal Clarinet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and The Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and is a four-time Grammy Award winner. His distinguished solo career includes performances at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, with the Israel Philharmonic, and even at the White House.
As a chamber musician, Levy has collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, Ying, Miró, and Miami String Quartets; with artists such as James Levine, Christoph Eschenbach, and Mitsuko Uchida; and at major festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival. He was also a founding member of the Naumburg Award–winning Aspen Wind Quintet.
Levy has appeared as guest principal clarinet with leading ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has also performed frequently in Japan under Seiji Ozawa and Riccardo Muti with the Tokyo Opera Nomori Orchestra and the Mito Chamber Orchestra.
A strong advocate for contemporary music, Levy has given world-premiere performances of works by John Harbison, Joan Tower, Peter Schickele, Paquito D’Rivera, William Bolcom, Morton Subotnick, and Marc Neikrug. He recently recorded Neikrug’s Through Roses with Pinchas Zukerman and actor John Rubinstein, conducted by the composer.
As an editor and compiler, Levy’s notable publications include French Music for Clarinet (Leduc), the Clarinet Collection (G. Schirmer), and exclusive print editions of Bernstein’s Clarinet Sonata and Finzi’s Five Bagatelles (Boosey & Hawkes). His latest CD for Avie Records, Rhapsodie, showcases 20th-century clarinet classics. Additional recordings include the Brahms Clarinet Sonatas and works by Schumann, along with more than 20 orchestral and chamber music recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Decca, and Naxos.
A graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with David Weber, Levy is also an alumnus of the New World Symphony. He currently serves on the clarinet faculties of the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Levy is a Performing Artist for Selmer Paris and Vandoren, and performs on Selmer Signature clarinets with Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures.