Emily Levin

Harpist Emily Levin has forged a multifaceted career as soloist, orchestral musician, chamber collaborator, and advocate for new music. Principal harp with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 2016, Levin has served as guest principal harp with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Houston Symphony. As soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at venues throughout North America and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, the Ojai Music Festival, the Kimmel Center, and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. 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 for harp. Commissions have included works by Angélica Negrón, Reena Esmail, Michael Ippolito, Aaron Holloway Nahum, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate.

Levin is the only American to receive top prizes at two of the most prestigious international harp competitions: the USA International Harp Competition and the International Harp Contest in Israel. She was also 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, Something Borrowed. Levin is adjunct associate professor of harp at Southern Methodist University, and is a proud alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival and School.