Retiring band director honored at Commencement and Reunions
By Rick Peterson
Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2004
Highlights from a career spanning a quarter of a century in the Lawrence Conservatory
of Music are too numerous for retiring Professor of Music Robert Levy to narrow
down to just a precious few, but the award-winning trumpet performer, conductor,
teacher, composer, and recording artist admits to at least one soft spot in
his heart.
"I still get goose bumps when a brand new work arrives and I’m
opening that package for the first time, knowing that pretty shortly I’ll
be exploring new musical ground,” says Levy, known to many as Lawrence’s “new
music man” for his passion for original and innovative works.
Professor Levy was honored at Commencement with
professor emeritus status and
an honorary Master of Arts degree, ad eundem, and again
as the central figure of Reunion Weekend’s special Wind/Band
Reunion.
Since joining the Conservatory of Music faculty in 1979 as director of bands — he
originally led just the wind
ensemble but shortly thereafter added a symphonic
band to the conservatory’s ensemble line-up — Levy has conducted
more than 130 concerts and worked with more than 900 student musicians. During
his career, he has premiered more than 100 works, many written expressly
for him. In 1986, Downbeat magazine honored his ensemble
with its “best
symphonic band performance” award.
"I appreciate all the effort and hard work that students put into the music-making
we shared,” he says. “That’s what I’ll miss the most.”
"When Bob isn’t thinking about his beloved baseball Giants — he
even had a dog named ‘Willie’ — he’s composing, commissioning,
conducting, performing, practicing, teaching, eating, sleeping, and drinking
music,” says Fred
Sturm, ’73, director
of jazz and improvisational music, who was in his second year as a conservatory
faculty member when Levy
joined the college.
“He’s a non-stop juggler with plates forever in the air,” Sturm
adds, “performing one program, rehearsing another to be played next
month, booking a third that’s six months away, and commissioning or
composing yet another to be premiered next year. He’s an advocate for
new music and the composers creating it, tirelessly carrying the same torch
that his
wind ensemble predecessor Fred Schroeder passed to him 25 years ago. He is
a loyal and dedicated teacher who truly loves his students.”
As a trumpet soloist, chamber musician, clinician, or guest conductor, Levy
has performed throughout the United States, including Carnegie Hall five
times, as well as at concerts in Australia, Canada, China, Haiti, Jamaica,
and Portugal.
He’s released 30 recordings on ten labels, including 1994’s “Blackberry
Winter: Songs by Alex Wilder.”
Wilder was one of Levy’s favorite composers, and he considered him a
personal friend and mentor. In addition to conducting several concerts of Wilder’s
music, Levy is completing work on a documentary about Wilder, who died
in 1980, featuring colleagues who knew and worked with him.
A native of New York City, Levy began his teaching and conducting career
at Henderson State College in Arkansas and spent eight years as director
of wind
ensemble and trumpet instructor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland before
joining the Lawrence faculty. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music
from Ithaca College and holds a master’s degree in music education
from North Texas State University. In addition, he has completed all the
coursework
toward a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Iowa.