Yoel Levi Interview with Bruce Duffie . . . . . . . . .

Conductor Yoel Levi

A Conversation with Bruce Duffie

Yoel Levi is one of the world’s leading conductors, known for his vast repertoire, masterly interpretations and electrifying performances. He is Chief Conductor of the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, a position he has held since 2014. The fourth Seoul Arts Center Awards bestowed Mr. Levi and the KBS Symphony Grand Prize in 2017.

Having conducted some of the most prestigious orchestras throughout the world and appearing with esteemed soloists, Levi has led orchestras in North America that include the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, and the New York Philharmonic, to name a very few. In Europe he has led orchestras in cities that include London, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Rome, Frankfurt and Munich and in the Far East, in addition to South Korea, he has conducted in Japan and China.

Also, Mr. Levi has conducted some of the world’s leading opera companies, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in addition to leading productions in Florence, Genoa, Prague, Brussels, and throughout France.

Levi’s extensive discography--on several labels featuring many composers-- numbers more than forty. This includes more than thirty with the Atlanta Symphony on the Telarc label.

He was Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony from 1988 to 2000. Other posts have included Principal Conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic from 2001-2007 and Principal Conductor of the Orchestre National d’Ile de France from 2005 to 2012. He was the first Israeli to serve as Principal Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic.

Levi won first prize at the International Conductors Competition in Besançon in 1978 before spending six years as the assistant of Lorin Maazel and resident conductor at the Cleveland Orchestra. He then assumed the post of Music Director at Atlanta.

Other highlights of his career include a recent successful European tour with the KBS Symphony. Similarly, during his tenure at the helm of France’s Orchestre National d'Ile he conducted that orchestra in regular concerts in Paris, and on tours to London, Spain and Eastern Europe. With the Israel Philharmonic, he conducted tours of the United States including their most recent tour in 2019. Also, he has conducted the IPO on tour to Mexico and led them in a special concert celebrating the 60th Anniversary of State of Israel. Other recent tours include an extensive tour of New Zealand with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and highly acclaimed concerts in Spain with the Orchestre de Paris. Frequently Levi is invited to conduct at special events such as the Nobel Prize Ceremony with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1997, Levi was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree by Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. In June, 2001 he was awarded “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Government.

Born in Romania August 15, 1950, Levi was raised in Israel where he studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. Receiving a Master of Arts degree with distinction, he also studied under Mendi Rodan at The Jerusalem Academy of Music. Subsequently Levi studied with Franco Ferrara in Siena and Rome, and with Kirill Kondrashin in the Netherlands, and at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

== Throughout this webpage, names which are links refer to my interviews elsewhere on my website. BD

During the first couple of months of the year 2000, Yoel Levi [pronounced YOH-el LEH-vee] was in Chicago leading a production of Carmen at Lyric Opera, featuring Denyce Graves, Richard Leech, Mark S. Doss, and staged by John Copley with lighting by Duane Schuler.

We met in the company’s office suite before a performance, and had a delightful half-hour together . . . . .

Bruce Duffie: You are in the middle of the run of Carmen. Tonight will be the eighth of thirteen performances. Is it your responsibility to keep each performance fresh and bubbly?

Yoel Levi: It is the responsibility of all of us, because, as you know, in opera there is tremendous teamwork, and especially in Carmen when you have so many different elements that you have to put together. Saying that, nevertheless, every time you need some adjustment from a certain singer, and it’s your duty to talk to them, to remind, to refresh, and make sure that we do our best all the time.

BD:   I assume thought that in a professional company like this, you don’t have a touchup rehearsal, or a ‘polish’ rehearsal? [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my interviews with Marvin David Levy (pronounced LEE-vee), and Jorge Mester.]

Levi:   You don’t have touch-up. However, sometimes we can do small things with some singers in my dressing room. There’s a piano, and we do that from time to time. Certain things that need a touch-up, we do that, and of course when the performance comes, it’s my job to bring the orchestra alive, and try to influence the singers, and make things happen.

BD:   If you have a little tiny touch-up in your dressing room beforehand, is it something that perhaps maybe sagged a little bit last time, or is it a new brilliance that you’ve just come up with?

Levi:   It depends. Every time, when you have a long stretch of performances, after a while certain things start to go in a certain direction, and sometimes a different direction. So, before it goes too far in that direction, you immediately make a point to tell the certain individual they’re doing so and so, and we try to work it out. Or, if there is a very challenging movement that you feel like no matter how many times you have done it, it’s still going to be a challenge to them to do it well, a fresh upward touch-up really can help the ensemble. So, that’s what we do.

BD:   When you’re conducting each performance, do you occasionally take a little risk to wake them up?

Levi:   Yes, and they take a lot of risks to wake me up! [Both laugh] Not purposely, but that’s the nature of the beast.

BD:   You’re basically a symphonic conductor. This is not your first opera, but it’s relatively early in your operatic career. Aside from the obvious, what are the major differences between conducting just an orchestra, and the orchestra with the singers in front of you?

Levi:   I really don’t think there are really too many differences. If you have conducted a lot of orchestral symphonic repertoire, there are also choral pieces when you work with a lot of different singers. The only different element is that it’s a theater, and certain things do happen. In opera, some unpredictable things will happen, and you need to expect the unexpected. You have to be on your toes all the time. But music is music, and I always approach any music as such. It doesn’t matter if it’s opera, or choral works, or concertos, you really have to know the piece backwards and forwards, and you need to know what to do and how to do it to make it alive. Maybe I have not conducted many operas, but I always was very close to the opera world. Actually, my first break was in the opera field over twenty-four years ago. That was the reason I became a conductor. Then I shifted away when I came to Cleveland, and went more into the symphonic repertoire. But I never lost touch with opera, and I always worked with some really tremendous, great singers, with different arias. I did concert versions of operas, and it was always in my heart.

BD:   Is it fun working with the human voice?

Levi:   Oh, absolutely! The human voice is the most natural thing that you can imagine, but also the most unpredictable thing. Since we are all made from flesh and blood, we’re not machines. Even machines go bad, and certain pieces of machinery will break. But, especially human beings, if we have a small headache, or if our blood pressure is high, or it is a day when our heartbeat is racing, or it is too slow, it all will affect the performance. But that’s what is beautiful about it, because it will never be the same, and every time it will be different. It will be one-of-a-kind, to happen only that night, and you cannot duplicate that. That’s the magic thing about music-making — that it happens. Live music happens once, and it’s going to be different the next day. It’s not going to be the same again.

BD:   The live music is only once, and yet the flat plastic record is identical every time.

Levi:   Right!

BD:   Is that a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing?

Levi:   It’s just a thing. Some of these flat discs, which are done during live performances, are sometimes more exciting because it’s the real thing. It’s not put in a laboratory. We have done a lot of recordings in a studio situation, and you try to create that atmosphere which will happen in a concert. You try to involve yourself only with the music, the pure music-making, and make the best happen. Also, in recordings you challenge yourself. You push yourself to the limits, and then it’s very interesting. After you record something, you come back to it and you perform it live, and you take some of those risks that you’ve done in recordings, and they work.

BD:   When you perform something after you’ve recorded it, are you competing with your record?

Levi:   You cannot compete with the record. You only compete with ideas, and you may compete with your last performance — if you liked it! [Laughs] If you didn’t like it, you can always try to come up with a much better performance.

BD:   Is there ever a night that you get it just right?

Levi:   It’s always relative. There is no such a thing that everything is right. Maybe sometimes it’s very close to being where everything is where you would like it to be, but it’s always close, and the closer you get to perfection, the further you are away from it.

BD:   [Surprised] Really??? Like Alice through the looking glass?

Levi:   It is, yes. There is no such a thing as perfection, and the more you think you’re getting it right, then under a magnifying glass you realize it’s an endless field. The same thing about space. The more we discover about space, the more we realize how little we know about it.

BD:   Is that what makes a piece of music great — there is so much to discover, and so much depth to it?

Levi:   Yes, that’s what is great about any kind of music, that it’s an endless field. No matter how many times you’ve done a piece, you will always discover, and you always should search for certain things — new ideas, new philosophies, new ways of making music.

BD:   New ways of making music, or new ways of making that piece of music?

Levi:   Both! That piece, or new ways of making music in general, and how you approach music. You always look for new ideas when you do symphonic repertoire, or any opera. There is always a different way, and what is interesting is that every time you work with a different artist, you suddenly see a different approach. Every individual has his own approach, which is great, because that’s the way it should be. You should really hear and be influenced by other people... up to a point. Then you have to agree or disagree. Certain individual things work, and if it doesn’t work, it still might be a great idea. That is what is beautiful about working with human beings.

BD:   So it’s a completely collaborative effort?

Levi:   Absolutely!

BD:   Are all of the performers collaborating directly with the composer?

Levi:   Not always. Some individuals will try to accommodate their own voice, or instrument, and their own talent, and based on the talent they have, they will try to execute a certain piece. Sometimes it will be quite close to what the composer’s wishes are, but does anyone now know that? I don’t think so. We can always guess, and some people will swear that they know exactly how Beethoven wanted it, or Mozart, and so forth, but these are all wonderful dreams of certain individuals.

BD:   Do you ever wish that you could sit down and channel directly to the spirit of Mozart, and ask him what he wanted?

Levi:   Oh, absolutely. We have so many questions that I wish he could answer as to how to do certain pieces, certain tempos that everyone does differently. There’s always a big discussion, and no one knows, really.

BD:   Would you really want to have all of those answers given to you?

Levi:   To a certain degree, and maybe to see if he really has the answer! [Laughs] You don’t know if he has the answer, and then he might say to do it the way you feel. It has to be very spontaneous. He can come up with a lot of different answers.

BD:   If he would answer all your questions, might that take the spontaneity and the research out of it?

Levi:   Not really, because it all depends on what kind of answer he’s going to give you. He can leave you with his answer, and that will actually cause more questions that are not going to be answered. Nevertheless, if I would have the opportunity, I would certainly take it.

BD:   When you work with living composers, does the insight that you gain from their ideas and their methods help you when you work with Beethoven and Mahler and Mozart?

Levi:   Not necessarily, because living composers will express sometimes very little about their own composition. It’s interesting... Here and there they will make very few corrections, and they will leave it many times to the judgment of the conductor. So one individual can not necessarily reflect what another individual composer will have in mind.

BD:   Do you wish that we were at a point where the living composers were getting more recognition than they are?

Levi:   Absolutely! But we are living in a very different era, where a lot of things are changing rapidly, and a lot of questions are asked about the future of the music industry, as well as the future of mankind. Where are we going?

BD:   Let’s leave mankind out for a moment, but I want to ask perhaps a dangerous question. Where is music going today and tomorrow? [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my interviews with Gerard Schwarz, and Jacob Avshalomov, who speaks about his father, Aaron]

Levi:   One thing is for sure.. Even though I was named after a prophet, I don’t think I can be a prophet. [Both laugh] The music industry is going through a lot of changes, and, in my opinion, any organization that will adapt to the changes that are taking place in our society will survive. The opera world is actually doing extremely well. It’s very popular, and sales are way up. The symphonic world is really way down, and a lot of organizations are thinking of creative ways to change things — how to make things more interesting, more intriguing, more inviting for the new audience that didn’t grow up with classical music, or, let’s call it great music. Not classical, but great music. We are in a search at the moment. It’s a transition era, and we will have to find some news ideas, new visions, new creations to bring back the audience. However, it all starts in the schools, and without giving proper attention to the education of the young generation, nothing will change. It will only get worse, and there is not a priority of supporting education of arts — any kinds of arts, not only music, but also painting, sculpture, theater, ballet, opera, you name it. When the young generation goes to school, they learn very little about this world, and that’s what is the sad part, because we will wake up ten or twenty years from now and have a generation that has absolutely no appreciation for this world.

BD:   Have we already lost a generation?

Levi:   We’ve already lost a generation, no question about it. The reason for this crisis is because of what’s happening in the school systems of today. It is so sad to see that in any school. They don’t have a class devoted to the arts. Maybe some private, very fancy schools might have them, but even in those schools they do not always have them, and in public schools, forget it! They cannot afford it. They don’t have the money for it, and it’s not top priority, and so forth, and so forth.

BD:   How can we get more of it in the schools without just throwing piles of cash at the problem?

Levi:   It has to be a tremendous collaborative effort of so many different people — organizations, education masters, teachers — all trying to influence the school systems.   The school systems are the roots, and if we can influence the roots, then there will be a future. There will be trees growing. Even if they are new seeds, let’s plant them, because then we’ll have the fruits in ten or twenty years.

BD:   Are you optimistic or pessimistic about it all?

Levi:   At the moment I’m pessimistic, because I don’t see any of our politicians that care about what kind of society we are going to reach in ten or twenty years, and there are very few that have any appreciation for the arts. That’s the sad part. It’s going to become a museum of some major organizations that will survive in the big major cities. But many organizations will not survive, or they will become very small in scale, regional, mediocre organizations.

* * * * *

BD: Let’s get off of the downward trend and come back while we still have time to enjoy the music. Especially in the symphonic repertoire, you have this vast array of pieces that are at your disposal. How do you decide which pieces you will do, and which you will leave for another time?

Levi: As a guest conductor, or as a Music Director?

BD:   Each one is a different set of decisions?

Levi:   Absolutely. As a Music Director, you look at the entire big picture. It’s like putting a puzzle of a thousand pieces together. With a palate of different things, you try to create a balanced season for your audience and for your orchestra. As a guest conductor, then it becomes a dialogue with an organization. You suggest certain pieces, and eventually you agree on what the program should be.

BD:   Since you are a Music Director, does that make it easier when you’re a guest conductor to understand what the other Music Directors have to go through?

Levi:   Sure, and that’s why I try to accommodate other organizations. I have a huge repertoire, and I ask immediately what direction you would like me to go. They will tell me to try to avoid certain pieces or certain composers.

BD:   Because they’ve been overdone?

Levi:   Overdone, or it’s going to be done during that season. This is no problem, so we’ll immediately shift to a direction that will help them balance their own season.

BD:   Have you always been happy with what you wind up doing?

Levi:   Yes, because you have to help an organization when you guest conduct. You cannot think about your individual glory all the time. You really have to be able to make great music with any composer. I believe in quality, and it doesn’t matter how you do it.

BD:   Then you’re assuming that any piece you conduct will be a great work when you conduct it?

Levi:   I want to assume that, definitely.

BD:   This was the point of my original question. How do you decide which works are worthy of your effort? I assume there are some works in which you don’t find enough to maintain your interest.

Levi:   Right, and then I will stay away from those certain pieces. I’ll say, “That’s not really my first choice. Let’s try to find another piece that will keep me awake, and challenge me, and really make me full of vigor.” [Both laugh] Certainly, not all pieces are great. We know that, and some pieces are greater than others. But from time to time, it’s interesting to do some pieces that may not be in the top ten. They’re still very good pieces, and the audience can have true enjoyment listening to those pieces.

BD:   Have there been times when you’ve been asked to do a piece that you’ve not really wanted to, but when you get into it you discover that it really is a nice piece?

Levi:   Sometimes, and sometimes it’s the other way round. You knew from the beginning that it’s not a good piece, and after doing it, you assure yourself you will never do the piece again. [More laughter]

BD:   You say the audience must enjoy it. Where’s the balance between the artistic achievement and the enjoyment level?

Levi:   It’s a difficult balance, because sometimes, for artistic integrity of an organization, you want to do some pieces that maybe the audience cannot enjoy the first time they hear them, and your role then becomes like an educator. You have to be able to present certain pieces to the audiences. I’m doing new pieces, and they’re going to hear them for the first time, and maybe they’re not going to be too enthusiastic about them. But the important thing is how you are going to balance each one with the rest of that particular program. If you’re going to throw at audiences only some totally new pieces, I’m afraid you’re going to play to empty halls. On the other hand, if it’s a good piece but still very difficult to comprehend the first time you hear it, when you do it the second time they might discover a few details they are starting to like, and hopefully, by the third time, they will start saying, “It’s not bad after all.”

BD:   But they’ve got to come back the second time and the third time.

Levi:   That’s right. So, you have to find the right balance of how to present it to the audience. Maybe you need do it in a different way. If you bring the composer, you can talk, and explain certain things, and tell the audience what it’s all about, and what to listen for. I don’t like to do those kinds of things, because I find it’s almost like creating a young people’s concert. But, from time to time, I’m not against it. I will talk to the people if it’s a new creation, and definitely tell them what the work is all about.

BD:   Give them a couple of hints?

Levi:   A couple of hints cannot harm.

BD:   What advice do you have for composer who wants to write music for orchestra as we head into the new Millennium?

Levi:   They need to write music that will influence the audience, and that can touch their soul and their heart. They cannot just create a mental exercise, because people will just ignore it, and it will disappear. However, if they find a way to touch the hearts and the souls of the audiences, then they will be very successful.

BD:   This leads me to the big question. What’s the purpose of music?

Levi:   [Matter-of-factly] To enrich the soul of mankind.

BD:   Just like that?

Levi:   Just like that!

BD:   All music does this to a certain degree?

Levi:   I don’t know if all music can do that, but our souls consist of a lot of elements, and different kinds of music can answer certain things within our souls. There is a lot of variety. Not every music has to be romantic, or melancholic, or happy, or sad in very simplistic terms. Every kind of music can have a different function, with different elements that can intrigue you or that can influence your soul, or your brain, or your heart. Any of these combinations should work.

* * * * *

BD:   I assume that most of the music that you conduct is secular rather than sacred, but do you try to find a spiritual quality in each piece of music?

Levi:   Sure, but not in each piece, because I don’t believe every piece is spiritual. When you conduct spiritual pieces, yes, you feel something really special happens on stage, and you really find yourself totally transferred to a different world. When you wake up and wonder where you are, then you know something really special happened during that performance. You were totally so immersed in that music that you forget where you were, and you just wake up when it’s all over. That was an experience for you, and certain pieces do that for the audience, as well. When they hear one of those, it is like a life-experience, and if it’s done really well, you can influence audiences to an unbelievable degree. They can cry, they can have tears, they can be speechless, they can have a lot of different expressions.

BD:   Do you have any general advice for audiences that come to your concerts?

Levi:   Fasten your seatbelts! [Much laughter] Try to sit and relax, be objective, and open your ears and your eyes. Let your senses take over, and wait for the creation that is going to take place only then, right then, at that moment. It’s a unique moment.

BD:   I assume that you enjoy conducting different kinds of concerts? [Vis-à-vis the recording shown at right, see my interviews with Robert Shaw, and Stephen Paulus.]

Levi:   Absolutely. That’s what keeps me alive. The challenge is to be able to not limit yourself, and to feel free musically and artistically to be able to jump from one composer, one era of music making, to another.

BD:   Are you going to be doing more opera?

Levi:   Absolutely. This Carmen here in Chicago was not my first time, as you know. I’ve been in Florence and Prague, and am going back to both cities. I’ve done several things in Atlanta, some of them in concert versions, but complete operas with no cuts. For me it’s a normal balance of my artistic integrity.

BD:   You are going to be leaving the position in Atlanta. [He would be succeeded by Robert Spano, who, at the time this interview is being posted in 2020, is still there.] Are you going to be taking up a new position, or are you going to be free-lance for a while?

Levi:   I’m not really preparing right away to take another position. After being Music Director for twelve years, we did so many things, and over thirty recordings. It’s a very challenging position to be a Music Director. It’s very time consuming, and it’s important to take some time out. Definitely I will only do guest conducting for the next couple of years, and that way I will recharge my batteries, and decide what I would like to do. Maybe I will just love the idea and have the freedom of guest conducting, or I might find an organization that I feel can be the next great institution. Or, perhaps I could make a certain institution that is great, even greater. It all depends on the challenge that I will meet.

BD:   You are about to turn fifty. Are you at the point in your career that you want to be at this age?

Levi:   [Laughs] Yes, I think so. I feel extremely young. I feel I’m at my prime. I feel like I have done more repertoire than many, many much older conductors, and I have developed myself in a very special way. I’m very happy with the way I took an orchestra, like Atlanta, which was just a nice solid orchestra, and really brought them to a level they never experienced before. Our recordings are a true testament to what was accomplished, and I proved to myself that I can take an orchestra and create a great orchestra. That, for me, was my biggest personal challenge.

BD:   Now we expect that everywhere where you go!

Levi:   [Laughs] Yes, of course, and I know I can do it! There’s no question in my mind, because I remember what happened when I came to Atlanta. I know what kind of level they were able to produce then, and I know how I’m leaving them, and the level of artistic integrity they can produce. For me, that’s my greatest satisfaction.

BD:   You’ve appointed quite a number of the players in the orchestra.

Levi:   I hired over thirty per cent of the players.

BD:   What do you look for when you’re filling a desk in the violin section, or the principal oboe, or a percussionist?

Levi:   I look for a certain quality that you find in around the top two per cent. It was always my idea to find a quality that would be an addition to the orchestra, and would just make the orchestra sound better. I was very careful over the years, always looking for the best players I could find, players that I could work with to help them become much better from what they were. They had the potential to become truly great players.

* * * * *

BD:   You’ve conducted all over the world. How are the audiences different from city to city, or country to country?

Levi:   They’re different by the nature of the culture, from the Far East to somewhere within Europe. You have so many different nations within Europe, so everyone has different mentalities. Some are more conservative, some are more open and more enthusiastic. Some could be very brutal, which is fine. That’s wonderful. For me, it doesn’t make any difference. It should not change from your musicmaking. You still have to do the same way of great musicmaking any place you go.

BD:   If you know the audience a little bit, does that influence your choice of repertoire?

Levi:   Sometimes, yes and no. I don’t see anything wrong with bringing some new repertoire to a place where they have never heard it. It could be actually very challenging, and also vice-versa. If you go to Prague and do a Janáček opera, everyone will tell you you’re crazy. The same for doing Puccini in Florence. They say, “How dare you?!” It’s like going to heart or the soul of the Italian people. Puccini’s birth place was just outside Florence, and everyone can sing all his operas backwards and forwards. It is, of course, more challenging, and if you do it really well, and you show them that you do it as well as they know it, then it’s a great achievement.

BD:   Is a lot of your responsibility building the trust of the audience?

Levi:   That’s always the challenge of any artist — to build trust with your audience. Not only with the audience but also with the musicians, with the singers, and with the whole organization.

BD:   Are you given enough time to study and re-study scores?

Levi:   Absolutely. You have to do that. You’re always looking at the next few programs. For example, right after this Carmen I go to Atlanta, then I go to the Far East, and to Europe, and every place I do some piece I’ve never conducted before, which is always a great challenge. It keeps me on my toes.

BD:   One last question... Is conducting fun?

Levi:   It is one of the most fulfilling experiences that anyone can imagine. I really cannot describe the feeling of making music with a hundred musicians on stage, or, in case of Carmen you have altogether probably over two hundred people involved. It is a tremendous dream, a tremendous fulfillment, and I recommend it! [Much laughter]

BD:   I wish you lots of continued success.

Levi:   I certainly hope so.

BD:   Thank you so much for speaking with me today.

Levi:   Thank you.

See my interviews with Miklós Rózsa, and Lynn Harrell

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This conversation was recorded at the Opera House in Chicago on March 6, 2000. Portions were broadcast on WNIB the following July. This transcription was made in 2019, and posted on this website in 2020. My thanks to British soprano Una Barry for her help in preparing this website presentation.

To see a full list (with links) of interviews which have been transcribed and posted on this website, click here.

Award - winning broadcaster Bruce Duffie was with WNIB, Classical 97 in Chicago from 1975 until its final moment as a classical station in February of 2001. His interviews have also appeared in various magazines and journals since 1980, and he now continues his broadcast series on WNUR-FM, as well as on Contemporary Classical Internet Radio.

You are invited to visit his website for more information about his work, including selected transcripts of other interviews, plus a full list of his guests. He would also like to call your attention to the photos and information about his grandfather, who was a pioneer in the automotive field more than a century ago. You may also send him E-Mail with comments, questions and suggestions.