Violist and Pedagogue Gad Levertov has Passed Away

Levertov served as head of its strings at Israel’s Buchmann-Mehta School of Music 

A longtime teacher and head of strings at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, violist Gad Levertov also taught at the Rubin Academy of Music. 

Notably, he served as principal viola of the Israeli Chamber Orchestra under conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo, with whom he often collaborated as a soloist with the orchestra. He also played solo with the Israel Sinfonietta. 

Among the pieces dedicated to him include Josef Bardanashvili’s Postludium concerto for viola and chamber orchestra, which was composed in 2002 and commissioned by the Israel Chamber Orchestra for Levertov. 

His many former students include Roman Spitzer, Ben Tzioni, Eliana Lovenberg, as well as Alisa Meves, who is now artistic director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Levertov’s discography includes a 1988 release on the Fine Art Collection featuring works by Ravel, Debussy, Roussel, and Caplet. He performs with Alice Glies, Er'ella Talmi, Avigail Arnheim, Rimma and Yuval Kaminkovsky, Robert Mozes, and Yoram Alperin on the album. 

“The Music School bows its head and participates in the grief of the Labertov family over the death of Professor Gad Labertov, who was the head of our string department before and one of the most significant violin players in the history of Israeli concert music,” the Buchmann-Mehta School posted on Facebook. “May his memory be a blessing.”

Our condolences to Mr. Levertov’s family, friends, students, and colleagues.