Benjamin Levy

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Benjamin Levy

Conductor

Benjamin Levy is managed worldwide by Hylke van Lingen

Contact:
E: hylke.v.lingen@interartists.nl
T: +31 6 11 711 720


A highly active presence on the European concert and operatic scene, Benjamin Levy recently began his fifth season as music director of the Orchestre National de Cannes - Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, which has extended his contract until 2025.

Benjamin Levy has been the guest of the Rotterdams Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi, the Netherlands Philharmonic, the Stansilavsky Theatre - Moscow, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Gelders Orkest, Residentie Orkest, Noord Nederlands Orkest, Icelandic Opera, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Krakow Philharmonic, Bogota Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia and Filharmonia Balticka Gdansk.

In France, Benjamin has conducted numerous ensembles such as the Orchestre de chambre de Paris, the Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the Opéra National de Lyon, the Orchestre de Chambre Nouvelle Aquitaine, the Orchestre Lamoureux, the Opéra National du Rhin, the Orchestre National de Lyon and the Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy.

Benjamin first sparked interest with the Compagnie "Les Brigands" and with this ensemble he performed rare pieces from the light lyrical repertoire, including Offenbach's Le Docteur OX and Yvain's Ta Bouche, for which he received a Diapason d'Or.

Founder of the Pelléas Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin has given numerous concerts with this collegiate ensemble in France and Europe such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2011 and 2014, Pelléas et Mélisande at the TCE in 2018, Enescu Festival in Bucharest in 2019, and The Seven Deadly Sins by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, directed by Jacques Osinski, at the Théâtre Athénée Louis-Jouvet in 2021.

Among Benjamin’s recent recordings are a Saint-Saëns album with violinist Geneviève Laurenceau and the Orchestre de Picardie on Naïve, Dvořák with cellist Nadège Rochat and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Ars Produktion, Beethoven with pianist Nino Gvetadze with Phion on Challenge Records, Waves with Peter Von Poehl and the Norrlands Operan Symphony Orchestra Umeå, and Croisette années folles with the Orchestre national de Cannes on Warner Classics, all of which received stellar reviews.

Benjamin Levy was named "musical revelation" of the year 2005 by the Drama and Music Critics Union. In 2008, he received the "Young Talent - Conductor" award from ADAMI and was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) in May 2022.

Benjamin Levy studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon (First Prize in percussion) and Paris (Prize in analysis and conducting class). He studied at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen (USA) with David Zinman and at the Academia Chigiana in Siena.

Croisette – Orchestre National de Cannes - Warner Classics / Erato – 2022

Benjamin Levy is the right chef to distil the intoxication promised by these hits of the Roaring Twenties.
— Le Monde
Benjamin Levy, a master of this repertoire.
— Le Soir
The same precision, the same finesse as in Mozart... Benjamin Levy has won his bet.
— Classica (CHOC)
Benjamin Levy and his musicians bring back to life the atmosphere of the Riviera of the Roaring Twenties... Particular attention has been paid to the instrumental colour, to the balance, particularly to the dosage (and the playing) of the percussion, to better reflect the range of styles. Hats off to the performers!
— Diapason
The Cannes National Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Levy, finds the colours and suppleness for the lemony, heady, delicate and sought-after fragrances of these little gems.
— Forum Opera
This joyful and colourful album revisits the French operetta and musical comedy of the Roaring Twenties with brilliance and class... The real star of “Croisette”, which has not stolen its recent national orchestra star, is the Cannes phalanx itself, with a rare delicacy.
— Le Figaro

Beethoven Aufgelebt – Nino Gvetadze, piano – Phion Orchestra - Challenge Records - 2022

In her hand-in-glove union with French conductor Benjamin Levy…the tempos, accents, and colors they produce result in bright, energized, pungent interpretations of both works that, nonetheless, are entirely free of affectation.
While Levy’s subtly explosive (no, that’s not an oxymoron here) orchestra makes Beethoven’s deliberate contrasts evoke an almost electric response in me…
That is much more pungent—I want to say “Beethovian”—than in other recordings.
Levy’s orchestra is “spot on the beat”. No lazy lagging here! Add to that his unabashed projection of French horns and trumpets cutting right through on mid-range pedal points or accented chords. And don’t lose sight of the underbelly of their performance: a sense of pulse that is unwavering yet never robotic. What bracing results!
When is the last time you felt like the crust fell off your concepts of how a Beethoven concerto should be played? That is the essence of Gvetadze and Levy on this remarkable recording.
Bottom line: with guest conductor Benjamin Levy it sounds terrific.
— American Record Guide
Wow, What a sound ! The interpretation – and in it the soloists and conductor Benjamin Levy harmonize perfectly – is very rhetorical, extremely colorful and energetic.
— Pizzicato
 
 
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