Aaron Israel Levin is an American composer whose music explores the emotional dynamism of storytelling and drama. His works have been performed and commissioned by the Aizuri Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Chelsea Symphony, Historical Keyboard Society of North America, Iowa Composers Forum, loadbang, loop38, Music Teachers National Association, New European Ensemble, Onix Ensamble, Salastina, and Sputter Box.
Levin is the recipient of multiple accolades, including the Cortona Prize, the Audience Choice Commission from the Earshot Underwood New Music Readings with the American Composers Orchestra, the Druckman Prize from the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His music has been showcased by notable presenters such as Carnegie Hall, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City, Constellation in Chicago, the DiMenna Center in New York, the Schubert Club in Saint Paul, MN, and Spectrum in New York.
Originally from Saint Paul, MN, Levin holds degrees from Grinnell College, the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, and the Yale School of Music.
At MacDowell, he developed his first opera with a libretto by Marella Martin Koch for Chicago Opera Theater, where he serves as the 2024-2026 composer-in-residence.
Portrait by Peter Shin
