Colin Levin

Colin Levin

Colin Levin
Baritone - Adjunct

Colin Levin

Contact Info
Wilson Hall, 220

Biography

Recent seasons have witnessed Colin Levin performing the lyric baritone roles of Mozart, Rossini, Puccini, and Britten while also participating in the creation of new American works. In November 2018 he made his Carnegie Hall debut in as the Baritone soloist in Mark Hayes’ Gloria presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY), conducted by the Composer. He appears as Merriman in the 2020 world premiere recording of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s The Importance of Being Earnest on the BMOP Label. Appearances include Papageno in The Magic Flute with Opera on the James, Schaunard in La Bohème with both Opera Roanoke and Opera Connecticut, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Company of Middlebury, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Winter Opera St. Louis, Silvio in Pagliacci with the Martha Cardone Opera, and Thomas Brown in Sullivan's The Zoo, Merriman in Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and Silas Simkins in Edward German’s Merrie England (Covid-19 cancellation) all with Odyssey Opera, in addition to previously covering the title role in Hindemith’s Cardillac with Grammy Award Winning Maestro, Gil Rose.

He performed as Manfred Lewin in the East Coast professional premiere of Jake Heggie's theatrical song cycle with chorus For a Look or a Touch at Jordan Hall with the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, which he prepared with Mr. Heggie, and was subsequently broadcast on Boston television. Additional concert activity includes appearing as the Baritone soloist in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Vaughan-Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem with the Chatham Chorale, and Chichester Psalms, Mozart Requiem, and Carmina Burana with the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus and Orchestra. He additionally has appeared with the Caramoor Festival, State Symphonic Orchestra of Michoacán, Opera Fayetteville, Hillyer Festival Orchestra, Salem Philharmonic, Ensemble for the Romantic Century, Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, Gotham Chamber Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Opera New Jersey, Center for Contemporary Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Castleton Festival, with whom he traveled to the Royal Opera House Muscat Oman. Selected Additional Repertoire includes Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Marcello in La Bohème, The Steward in Dove’s Flight, Don Fernando in Fidelio, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, the Shoe Salesman in Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Sid and Mr. Gedge in Albert Herring, The Businessman in Portman’s The Little Prince, Le Dancaïre and Morales in Carmen, and Don Alfonso di Pardo (Cover) in Donizetti’s Maria Padilla; Selected Concert Repertoire includes Mozart Mass in C Minor, Saint-Saëns Oratorio de Noël, Beethoven Mass in C Major, Ein Deutsches Requiem, Faure Requiem, Donizetti Misere, Schubert Mass in G, Vaughan-William Five Mystical Songs, Finzi In Terra Pax, and Dover Beach.

Colin Levin's voice students regularly are accepted as both undergraduate and graduate students into the top music conservatories in the US, London, and Canada as vocal performance majors, including students attending The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music, Mannes School of Music, Boston University, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, The Royal Academy of Music in London, New York University, The University of Toronto, SUNY Purchase, Northwestern Bien School of Music, and Rider University. They regularly place and win competitions, including District Winners and Encouragement Awards in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, national finalists and semi-finalists in the emerging professional, collegiate and high school divisions of the Classical Singer Competition, Top Prizes at the National Level of the NATS Competition, the New York Lyric Opera competition, the Donald W. Wood Competition, the Schmidt Vocal Competition, and the Peter Elvins Competition; and participate in Young Artist Programs such as the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Opera Ithaca, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Seagle Music Colony, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, the Miami Music Festival, and SongFest.

Colin Levin is a Nordic Song specialist, with an especially extensive background in the repertoire and lyric diction of Icelandic art song. He is a board member for the website SongHelix, as the editor for Nordic art song. He has appeared as a guest lecturer at the Mannes School of Music and Concordia College (MN), with upcoming lectures including a week long series of classes on Nordic Art Song and Phonetics at University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana, and Icelandic Art Song repertory at University of Wisconsin: Oshkosh as a guest of noted Scandinavian music expert Anna Hersey. He will be presenting the paper “Performance practice and pedagogical studies within the idiomatic quality of the Icelandic language in establishing a national art song tradition” at the annual Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study conference in May 2021. He additionally recorded for both WNYC in New York City, as well as National Public Radio, discussing the music of Richard Wagner on a segment entitled "The Sexual Mystery" in the internationally broadcast weeklong show, The Tristan Mysteries.

Colin Levin is currently on the Voice Faculty at Rowan University, and since 2013 has served on the Voice and Music History Faculty with the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He previously has held faculty positions with the International Summer Opera Festival of Morelia in Mexico and Concord Academy, as well as a Lecturer in Voice position at Rutgers University, where he is currently completing his Doctoral studies. He has presented masterclasses at Concordia College, The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, and in the spring of 2017 was a teaching artist-in-residence at the Landakotsskóli School in Reykjavík, Iceland. Colin received a Bachelor of Music Degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with a double major in Vocal Performance and Musicology, and a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois: Urbana-Champaign, which he attended on full scholarship and fellowship.

www.ColinLevinBaritone.com