Music Professor Adam Levin shares his love for classical guitar and his experiences of performing around the world. Photo by Grace DeSanti.
Adam Levin thrives off of the guitar and sharing his love for guitar with other people
“I’m absolutely passionate about music-making and classical guitar and I cannot imagine a world in which the guitar didn’t exist,” said Adam Levin, an artist
Levin is a world renowned guitarist who has received several awards and has been recognized by various prestigious organizations. He has been published in The Washington Post and has been praised for his diverse music.
Performing in countries around the world, Levin has adopted sounds from various regions and integrated them into a classical guitar sound. Since the age of seven, Levin has been playing the classical guitar. While he credits his father as his primary inspiration, Levin also recognizes that his musical journey has been influenced by various other individuals and cultures.
He attended Northwestern University and graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in psychology, pre-med and music performance. During his time at Northwestern, he had a very different mindset as to how he was going to utilize his degrees after graduation.
“At one point I had this sort of idealistic vision of being a medical doctor, a touring classical guitarist and also being a psychiatrist,” said Levin. “I quickly realized that this was a pipe dream that was impossible to attain because each field necessitated thousands of hours of training.”
Upon realizing that his plan to utilize all three of his degrees was unattainable, Levin knew he needed to decide what career path he was going to pursue and credits this resolution as the most important decision of his life.
“After Northwestern I went to a program in Sienna, Italy to study with a very important Italian pedagogue, Oscar Gheglia,” said Levin. “He was a gatekeeper of some sorts to the classical guitar, and if he gives you a nudge in one way or another, it lets you know whether or not you’re made for this herculean career path.”
“He said to me, you should really consider this. After that, I went to Spain for three years as a full-ride scholar and researched contemporary Spanish music,” said Levin. “I then went onto commission 30 new works for the classical guitar repertoire.”
Levin’s style of music has evolved drastically since he began playing, and his touring has attributed to this. Traveling to various countries, Levin has been able to immerse himself in several cultures, gaining a personal understanding of the people of these regions.
“As I’ve spread my wings and studied in Italy, or the United States, or giving master classes in Brazil or Asia, it’s all educated me on how to be a sensitive human being,” said Levin. “I am constantly learning how to get in touch with people different from myself, but also I’ve been put in touch with different musical conditions.”
On top of touring the world, Levin also is a founder of the Kithara Project, which is a non-profit organization in which he provides access to learning classical guitar. Levin speaks highly of this organization and would credit it as one of his proudest works.
“Something that I’m passionate about is my advocacy work,” he said. “I am a founder of a non-profit organization called the Kithara Project and its mission is to improve the lives of young people, children and youth through the classical guitar. We serve over 100 students across the United States and Mexico and we really try to make an impact with this wonderful instrument.”
Levin wants children to be able to have access to music, as he did when he was a child. He believes that music creates a profound impact on the lives of children as it flourishes their creativity.
Levin believes that his journey through music has changed his life for the better, as he has been graced with various opportunities. Living in a world without the classical guitar is unfathomable to Levin, so it is important for him to educate others of the importance music holds in our society.
“I couldn’t be further from the origin of any of those cultures, so it took traveling and leaving my comfort zone to really cultivate an accurate, personal understanding of that music and what it truly means,” said Levin. “This entire journey truly has opened my eyes to the full bandwidth of different cultures and different possibilities.”
“I’ve been lucky that the trend of my career has followed an upward ascent and I feel very fortunate about this,” said Levin. “It’s an extremely difficult path. One that takes a lot of drive, patience, perseverance and organizational skills. The path of an artist is a collage of many paths.”