Michael A. Levine

For other people named Michael Levine, see Michael Levine (disambiguation).

Michael A. Levine
Born	20 February 1964
Genres	Classical, Film scores
Occupations	Composer, Music producer
Instruments	Violin, Tenor violin
Website	MichaelLevineMusic.com

Michael A. Levine is an American composer born on 20 February 1964 in Tokyo, Japan, and currently based in Los Angeles.

Biography

His Concerto for Pedal Steel Guitar and Orchestra is believed to be the first concerto ever written for the pedal steel guitar. It was premiered on April 16, 2005, in a performance by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra with Gary Morse (of Dierks Bentley and Dwight Yoakam's bands) as soloist, and Paul Gambill as conductor. Levine also composed Divination By Mirrors for musical saw and strings. It was premiered in New York City's Merkin Hall in 1998 by the New York Virtuosi with Dale Stuckenbruck as the saw soloist. The piece makes extensive use of quarter tones and golden mean sections.

Levine has written several opera and musical theater pieces including Orpheus Electronica (2000), widely believed to be the first "rave opera".

Trained as a violinist, Levine began his career as a studio musician in New York in the 1980s, but then switched his emphasis to composition. He is, perhaps, best known as the composer for the television dramas Cold Case and Close to Home, both produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. In 2007, he scored the features Adrift in Manhattan and Columbus Day. He also produced, with Michael Wolff, the songs for the Nickelodeon TV preteen comedy series and combo, The Naked Brothers Band. Early in his career Levine wrote music for advertising including "Gimme a Break", the Kit Kat jingle (1986). In a 2003 study of earworms (tunes that get stuck in people's heads) Univ. of Cincinnati researcher James Kellaris named "Gimme a Break" as one of the top ten worst offenders.[1]

In the mid-1980s, Levine led the New York City-based quartet, No Guitars, in which he sang and played electric violin. Patrick Moraz of Yes described him as "The Jimi Hendrix of the violin."

Michael has done extensive work for other film composers including Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, Rupert Gregson-Williams, and Cliff Martinez as an arranger and composer of additional music. He was the arranger of the choral version of Spider-Pig from The Simpsons Movie and composed the music for the murder scene in Veronica Guerin.

Levine continues to play violin on his and others' recordings. He is a featured player on Hans Zimmer's and James Newton Howard's score for the Batman movie, The Dark Knight. He also plays tenor violin and the ciola (pronounced chee OH la) an instrument the size of a viola but which sounds in the same range as a cello. He is the recipient of six ASCAP awards, two Clio awards, an NEA grant, a Meet The Composer grant, and a Massachusetts Arts Foundation grant.

Filmography (as composer)

2010 Megamind (additional music) Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (additional music) 2009 Cold Case Season 7 (TV)) Monsters vs. Aliens (additional music) 2008 Cold Case Season 6 (TV) Surviving Sid Misconceptions Columbus Day 2007 Adrift in Manhattan Bee Movie (additional music) Cold Case Season 5 (TV) The Simpsons Movie (additional music) 2006 Close to Home Season 2 (TV) Cold Case Season 4 (TV) 2005 Close to Home Season 1 (TV) Cold Case Season 3 (TV) 2004 Cold Case Season 2 (TV) Green Screen Show aka Drew Carey's Green Screen Show (TV) Wicker Park (additional music) 2003 Cold Case Season 1 (TV) Family Tree The John Garfield Story (TV) Veronica Guerin (additional music) Wonderland (additional music) 2002 Gone Nutty aka Scrat's missing adventure (V) The Main Stream (TV) 2001 Hubert's Brain 1999 Any Given Sunday (additional music) Cupidity The Lady with the Torch

External links

• Official website
• Michael A. Levine at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview in Score Magazine

Persondata
Name	Levine, Michael A.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 February 1964
Place of birth	Tokyo, Japan
Date of death
Place of death