Arthur Levering is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Rome, Italy.

Levering has received commissions from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Boston Modern Orchestra Project

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project is a full professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, and is widely recognized as the premiere orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new music of the 20th and 21st centuries...

, Boston Musica Viva

Boston Musica Viva

Boston Musica Viva is a Boston, Massachusetts-based music ensemble founded by its Music Director, Richard Pittman, in 1969 and dedicated to contemporary music.-Composers and compositions:...

, the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble

Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble

Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble is a contemporary chamber music ensemble based in Boston, Massachusetts. The group was founded in 1975 by composers Scott Wheeler, Rodney Lister, and Ezra Sims as the concert giving “annex” of New England Dinosaur Dance Theater...

, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Rascher Saxophone Quartet

Raschèr Saxophone Quartet

The Raschèr Saxophone Quartet is a professional ensemble of four saxophonists which performs classical and modern music.Like most saxophone quartets, the RSQ features one player on each of the four most common sizes of saxophone: soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone.The quartet was founded in the...

, and Sequitur, among others.

Education

Levering holds a B.A. from Colby College

Colby College

Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...

 (1976); an M.M. in performance from Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 (1979), having studied classical guitar with Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk is an American classical guitarist.-Biography:Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia and is the holder of all reproduction rights to Segovia's music, given to him by Segovia's wife, Emilia...

; and an M.M. in composition from Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

 (1988), having studied primarily with Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands

Bernard Rands is a composer of contemporary classical music.Rands studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy.He held residencies...

.

Awards

• 2010 Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard commission
• 2002 Guggenheim Foundation
  John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
  The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
  
   Fellowship
• 1997 Rome Prize
  Rome Prize
  The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists and to 15 scholars The Rome Prize is an American award made annually by the American Academy in Rome, through a national competition, to 15 emerging artists...
  
   in music composition (FAAR)
• 1997 Heckscher Foundation Composition Prize
• 1996 Barlow Endowment
  Barlow Endowment
  The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition is a scholarship established in September 1983 through the generosity of Milton A. and Gloria Barlow. Motivated by their love of music, the Barlows presented a substantial gift to Brigham Young University, engendering and supporting excellence in musical...
  
   commission
• 1994 National Endowment for the Arts
  National Endowment for the Arts
  The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
  
   commission
• 1992 Lee Ettelson Composer's Award (Composers Inc.)
• 1990 Composer's Guild prize
• MacDowell Colony
  MacDowell Colony
  The MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, U.S.A., founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
  
   fellow (six times)
• Yaddo
  Yaddo
  Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
  
   residency

Major Compositions, selected performances

His virtuosic 3 movement piano work, School of Velocity, was commissioned and performed by Donald Berman on a League of Composers/ISCM concert at Merkin Hall, New York on March 23, 1999. Echoi (violin and piano) was premiered by Nicholas Kitchen and Donald Berman in Boston on Oct. 20, 2003. Clarion/Shadowing (clarinet, violin, piano) was performed by the 21st Century Consort at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC on March 13, 2004. Twenty Ways Upon the Bells (7 players) was premiered by Dinosaur Annex in Boston on Oct. 30, 1994. Cloches II (8 players) was performed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on Feb. 15, 2001. Furies (11 players) was premiered by Sequitur at Merkin Hall in New York on Jan. 30, 2008. Catena (piano and 16 players) was premiered by Donald Berman and the Dinosaur Annex Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Scott Wheeler

Scott Wheeler (composer)

Scott Wheeler is an American concert-music composer, born February 24, 1952, in Washington, D.C., now based in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1989, he has been on the faculty of Emerson College in Boston, where he has co-directed the music theater program...

 at Jordan Hall

Jordan Hall

Jordan Hall is a 1,019-seat concert hall in Boston, Massachusetts, the principal performance space of the New England Conservatory. It is one block from Boston's Symphony Hall, and together they are considered two of America's most acoustically perfect performance spaces...

, Boston on Sept. 16, 2000. Parallel Universe (string orchestra) was performed and recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project

Boston Modern Orchestra Project

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project is a full professional orchestra in Boston, Massachusetts, and is widely recognized as the premiere orchestra in the United States dedicated exclusively to commissioning, performing, and recording new music of the 20th and 21st centuries...

 at Jordan Hall, Boston on May 25, 2007.

Recordings

• School of Velocity (CRI 812, 1999, NWCR812, 2007) includes: Twenty Ways Upon the Bells, Clarion/Shadowing, School of Velocity, Roulade, Uncle Inferno, Cloches II.
• Still Raining, Still Dreaming (New World 80662-2, 2008) includes: Still Raining Still Dreaming, Echoi, Sppooo, Tesserae, Catena.
• Americans in Rome, Music by Fellows of the American Academy in Rome
  American Academy in Rome
  The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
  
  (Bridge 9271 A/D, 2008) includes: Tesserae.

Sources

• Carl, Robert "Arthur Levering". Liner notes to Arthur Levering: Still Raining, Still Dreaming. New World Records.
• Wheeler, Scott "Arthur Levering". Liner notes to Arthur Levering: School of Velocity. New World/CRI.

External links

• Official Website: http://www.arthurlevering.com