The musician and pedagogue, who taught at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, was 86 years old

Gad Levertov

Gad Levertov

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Israeli violist and pedagogue Gad Levertov died on 18 April at the age of 86. For many years he served as head of strings at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University.

Born on 21 April 1938, Levertov studied with Ödön Pártos and Lorand Fenyves, and later with Howard Boatwright at Yale University in the US. Returning the Israel, he was appointed principal violist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra (under Gary Bertini, Rudolf Barshai and others), and served as guest principal violist under Zubin Mehta at the Maggio Musicale opera house in Florence.

He performed as soloist with many orchestras, including in the world premiere of Pártos’s ‘Shiluvim’ concerto for viola and chamber orchestra. He succeeded Pártos as professor of viola and chamber music at the Buchmann-Mehta School.

Levertov was an active chamber musician and a member of the Sol-La-Re Piano Quartet, alongside Yair Kless (violin), Uri Vardi (cello) and Milka Laks (piano). A CD featuring his performance of the Bach Cello Suites was released in 2000. Notably he performed Suite no.6 in its original tuning on a five-string viola made especially for him.

Among his many students at the Buchmann-Mehta School were Gilad Karni (principal violist, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich), Guy Ben-Ziony (professor, Robert Schumann Hochschule, Düsseldorf), Roman Spitzer (principal violist, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra), Ferenc Gábor (principal violist, Berlin Symphony Orchestra), Avi Sarid (who succeeded Levertov as principal violist, Israel Chamber Orchestra), Shuli Waterman (principal violist, Israel Camerata Orchestra), Alisa Meves (artistic director, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) and Lilach Levanon, who succeeded him in his role at the school.

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