Praised for her “communicative, emotionally intense expression” (Jerusalem Post) and “technical wizardry and artistic intuition” (Herald Times), harpist Emily Levin has forged a multifaceted career as a soloist, artistic creator, educator, and advocate for new music. 

The only American to receive top prizes at two of the most prestigious international harp competitions, Levin won the 2013 Bronze Medal at the 9th USA International Harp Competition, and at just 18 years old, was named a finalist and Renié Prizewinner at the 2009 International Harp Contest in Israel.

Levin joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as principal harp in 2016, where she holds the Elsa von Seggern Chair. She has also served as guest principal harp with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Houston Symphony, and appears regularly with the New York Philharmonic.

As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at leading venues throughout North America and Europe — including Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Bravo! Vail, the Kimmel Center, and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. At the request of conductors Jaap van Zweden and John Adams, she has appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony. Other concerto engagements include performances with the Jerusalem, Colorado and West Virginia Symphonies; the Louisiana Philharmonic; and the Ojai Festival and Lakes Area Music Festival. 

Guided by her mission to expand the harp repertoire, Levin works extensively with established and emerging composers alike. In 2021, she founded GroundWork(s), an initiative commissioning 52 American composers — one from each state, plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico — to write new works centered on the harp. Recent and upcoming commissions have included works by Angélica Negrón, Reena Esmail, Michael Ippolito, Aaron Holloway Nahum, and Kareem Roustom.

This season, Levin tours her revolutionary solo project Experiments in Play. An immersive, interactive narrative recital, Experiments in Play invites the audience to solve puzzles, interact with the plot, and influence the path of the music itself. She also returns as guest principal harp with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and reunites with duo partner Colin Davin for concerts throughout the U.S. In April 2025, Levin performs the Renié harp concerto with the DSO and maestro John Storgårds.

Spring 2025 will also bring the release of a new album, Birds of Paradise, which features trios for harp, violin, and cello with violinist Julia Choi and cellist Christine Lamprea. Recorded for Azica Records, Birds of Paradise includes music of Henriette Renié and Reena Esmail, as well as Angélica Negrón’s Ave del paraíso, a work commissioned and premiered by GroundWork(s) in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Levin was a winner of the 2016 Astral Artists National Auditions and was named the Classical Recording Foundation’s 2017 Young Musician of the Year for her debut album on Iris Records, Something Borrowed.

A committed educator, Levin is currently an adjunct associate professor of harp at Southern Methodist University, and a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and Young Artist’s Harp Seminar. 

She received her Master of Music from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Nancy Allen, where she was a teaching fellow for both the Ear Training and Educational Outreach Departments. A self-described bookworm, Levin completed undergraduate degrees in music and history at Indiana University with Susann McDonald. Her honors history thesis discussed the impact of war songs on the French Revolution.

Emily lives in Dallas with her husband, composer Jonathan Cziner, and their dogs Charlie and JoJo.

Biography current as of September 2024