More News and Press

"Levi Hammer led a stirring performance from memory. The ASO musicians gave Hammer a fraternal solo bow when he was called back to stage." - Cleveland Classical

A Conversation with Levi Hammer"

I have a frightening degree of curiosity about all aspects of music."

At the Castleton Festival

"Levi Hammer led the ensemble in an exhilarating performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide Overture."

On his production of Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins:  "Levi Hammer conducted both orchestra and singers with the kind of low-key skill and accuracy that this score requires."

On Ravel and French music

"This is a piano concerto, but it's also a concerto for the orchestra."

"Hammer was the superb soloist in Maurice Ravel's Concerto in G. Playing with authority and a crystalline touch, Hammer was rock-steady but full of excitement in both the opening and closing movements, then turned utterly calm for the wonderful Adagio." - Cleveland Classical

"Levi Hammer gave a performance of Afternoon of a Faun that was completely riveting.... Once again, Levi Hammer proved himself to be a pianist of commanding technique, with a keen sense of color and texture." - Cleveland Classical

On Gershwin

On Porgy and Bess:

"If you take it to heart, you can't help but walk away a more understanding and compassionate human being."

"Only in this uniquely American folk opera could the hero be a crippled beggar and the heroine one step above a prostitute. They're real people, and there's such a dignity to them.... It is a deeply beautiful human story - period."

"But then there's the chorus....if there's ever been a finer Porgy and Bess ensemble than the Akron Symphony auditioned and trained, we'd like to hear it... Finely trained by assistant conductor Levi Hammer, who acted as chorus master for Porgy, the chorus tuned up complex chords with precision and contributed to hair-raising climaxes." - Cleveland Classical

Gershwin and the Great Tradition

Interview with Cleveland Classical: "I have to say I have a little obsession with Viennese expressionism."

"This was inspired programming that realized the curatorial intentions of the artist as well in performance as it did on paper. Of course, this could only work if the artist has the ability, technically and musically, to pull it off. So how was Mr. Hammer’s performance? One word: Magnificent." - Cleveland Classical

On Rhapsody in Blue

Masterclass at Miller South School for the Performing Arts

"There's a little joke making the rounds about the splendid new Steinway....   'First, they took an ax to it' (Emanuel Ax, who debuted the new instrument earlier in the month), 'then they took a hammer to it' (Levi Hammer, the ASO's assistant conductor and featured piano soloist this evening).  The instrument is a fine one that speaks into the hall with resonance and authority, and Hammer used it expertly in the two Gershwin works that ended the concert.  Levi Hammer brought a well-conceived and highly individual approach to the solo part, which he dispatched brilliantly with the complicity of his attentive colleagues.  Ruminative pauses in the cadenza contributed to the sense of immediacy and improvisation that Hammer seemed to be out to achieve.  Levi Hammer seems to have personally absorbed Gershwin's amazing range of musical styles and plays with infectious style and enthusiasm." - Cleveland Classical

On Mozart

"As a young conductor, Hammer is constantly studying the classical repertoire, which he describes as a lifetime’s work: 'If you really want to become a great conductor, you have to systematically learn the entire repertoire.'" - Akron Beacon Journal

"Though the baton is alluring, Hammer should keep a hand or two on the piano as his career advances. He’s good at it." - Cleveland Classical

“I’ve written something that I like and I think Mozart would like it too even though I’m a mere mortal and he was not.” - Levi Hammer

“Levi Hammer’s improvisations and flourishes were particularly enjoyable.”

“Keyboard artist Levi Hammer provided superb accompaniment for the recitatives.”

On the Youth Orchestra Experience

Meet Levi Hammer, the new Akron Youth Symphony Music Director.  "I want to create an environment where beauty is fostered through music."

"The purpose of music education is not to breed future professional musicians; nor is it - as the thinking sometimes goes - supposed to cultivate the highest GPA and get you into the 'best' college, and land you the highest earning job, et cetera ad nauseam. Rather, it is to experience beauty, to express ideas that are inexpressible through mere words, to feel more deeply than we can in our everyday existence, to communicate with others in a way that's not possible outside of the realm of music. In this way, the Chamber Music Concept isn't only a way of making music; it's a way to live. How much better off would we be as a community, a society, a species, if we looked deeply into each other's eyes and listened? This is why music education is imperative to humanity."

"We don't often have a chance to convey this, but I think the kids are very fortunate to have such an articulate, passionate, and accomplished conductor at the helm." -Sung Cha Akron Youth Symphony parent

"Every day with Levi Hammer is a day of recreating the works of the masters" - violinist Nicholas Schmeller

"Levi not only cares about the orchestra as a whole but he cares deeply about each individual musician as well." - violinist Maria Zou

"I will always remember Levi's passion, dedication, and the wonderful repertoire he selected for us. He taught us to appreciate the great works beyond what is found on the page." - cellist Alex Cha

Christopher Wilkins on Levi in My Symphony Magazine“

In July, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand his conducting A Little Night Music, as Lorin Maazel's right-hand man at the Castleton Festival in Virginia.  He led a first-rate performance, conducting with confidence, and all the nuance that Sondheim's sophisticated score demands."

Press Release: Levi Hammer has been promoted to the position of Associate Conductor of the Akron Symphony

Levi Hammer has been promoted to the position of Associate Conductor of the Akron Symphony.  Hammer has conducted the Akron Symphony in Classics, Pops and Education concerts, and has been active on the orchestra’s Community Engagement Committee and the Education Committee.  For four seasons he has led the preparation of all operatic and theatrical performances.  This November he will collaborate for the fifth time as piano concerto soloist with Akron Symphony Music Director Christopher Wilkins.  Hammer has held parallel positions at the Boston Philharmonic, the Castleton Music Festival and Central City Opera.  Mr. Hammer is pursuing a doctoral degree in orchestral conducting at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and he will continue his tenure as Music Director of the Akron Youth Symphony. July 2014