Photo by Peter Shin

Aaron Israel Levin writes music that is guided by the emotional dynamism of storytelling and drama, drawing from a multitude of influences to create compositions that are both personal and wide-ranging. Aaron’s music has been performed by the Aizuri Quartet, the American Composers Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Bent Frequency Duo, the Chelsea Symphony, Fifth House Ensemble, loadbang, the Yale Philharmonia, mezzo-sopranos Kayleigh Butcher and Lisa Neher, and percussionists Dmitrii Nilov and Sam Um. Passionate about collaboration, Aaron also frequently works with artists in theater, dance, and film.
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In 2019, Aaron was selected to take part in the Underwood New Music Readings with the American Composers Orchestra under conductor Ludovic Morlot, and was subsequently awarded their Audience Choice Commission. His music has been heard across the country at the DiMenna Center (NYC), Spectrum (NYC), Constellation (Chicago), New Music Gathering 2020, and the Bowdoin, Fresh Inc., Oregon Bach, and Source Song festivals. Aaron was recently a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival & School where he was awarded the prestigious Druckman Prize.  Additionally, Aaron was also recently selected to partake in the RED NOTE Music Festival, the New Amsterdam Composers Lab, and the Young Composers Meeting with orkest de ereprijs in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Aaron is the recipient of the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was named a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Award. 
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Upcoming projects include a work for solo harpsichord commissioned by the Historical Keyboard Society of North America to be premiered by Jon Salamon; a quartet for Houston-based ensemble Loop38; and a song cycle for baritone Harrison Hintzsche and pianist Mary Trotter.
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Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Aaron is a graduate of Grinnell College (BA) and the Yale School of Music (MM), where he is currently pursuing his DMA.