Yoel Levi

Who is Yoel Levi?

Yoel Levi is an Israeli musician and conductor. Born in Romania, he grew up in Israel. He studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, earning a Master of Arts degree with distinction. He also studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance under Mendi Rodan. Levi won the 1978 International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. Levi has also studied with Franco Ferrara in Siena and Rome, with Kiril Kondrashin in the Netherlands, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

In 1988, Levi became the music director and principal conductor for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, following the retirement of Robert Shaw, who had been the orchestra's conductor since 1967. Levi became the music director emeritus in 2000, succeeded as music director by Robert Spano. Through 2004–2005, Levi continued to conduct two concert weekends in Atlanta each season. In 2001, he was awarded the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.

He conducted the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the 1991 Nobel Prize Ceremony. Under him, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra played at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.