Jonathan Levi

Lyricist and violinist Jonathan Levi is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge, where he played violin with fusion jazz quartet Antares and Robyn Hitchcock’s post-punk Softboys, and co-founded the literary magazine Granta.

Levi is the author of the novels A Guide for the Perplexed and Septimania. His short stories and articles have appeared in The New York Times, LA Times, Condé Nast Traveler, GQ, Raritan, and The Nation among many others. Levi’s libretti for operas, musicals and plays have been performed in the U.S., Europe and as far away as Tbilisi, Georgia.

Levi has also served as Minister of Arts & Culture for the NYC Board of Ed., as the first Director of the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, and as co-founder of the Zaubersee Russian Music Festival in Lucerne. He has been Resident Artist at Bellagio, the American Academy in Rome, and Civitella Ranieri in Umbria.

His latest projects include lyrics and violin on Brotherhood, a 50th anniversary album with the band Laurasia, and Lives of the Artists, with long-time collaborator, composer Mel Marvin.

Since 2005, Levi has divided his time between NYC, Rome, and Cartagena, Colombia, where he is Director of the Gabriel García Márquez Fellowship in Cultural Journalism.