Maestro Gilbert Levine, KCSG, dubbed by America Magazine, "The Pope's Maestro," first came to the world's attention when he was named Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic in Poland in 1987. He was the first American to head any artistic institution in the Communist East Bloc. Shortly after beginning his tenure in Krakow, he was called to Rome to meet with Krakow's most renowned citizen, His Holiness Pope John Paul II.

Among the important concerts that followed this meeting, was the one commemorating the 10th Anniversary of this Pope's Pontificate in 1988. Titled "A Musical Offering From The Vatican," it has been broadcast on PBS as a Christmas special for more than ten years.

Maestro Levine led the Krakow Philharmonic, which he conducted from 1987 to 1993, on numerous foreign tours, including visits to the US, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France and the Far East.

Maestro Levine and His Eminence William Cardinal Keeler first worked closely together on the historic "Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust" of April 1994. This concert, conceived and conducted by Gilbert Levine, marked the first time the Vatican had publicly commemorated the Holocaust with a Papal event. It was through Cardinal Keeler's extraordinary efforts that this concert was able to reach millions throughout the United States via a PBS telecast.

In 1995, in preparation for the Baltimore visit of His Holiness, Maestro Levine conducted a special concert with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the Basilica of the Assumption. This event, which was broadcast throughout the US and Canada and heard around the world via Vatican Radio, was funded through a special grant by the Baltimore-based Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust.

Maestro Levine has performed with many of the world's great orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony and both Minnesota and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In Europe he has led L'Orchestre de la Bastille, the RSO Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsorchester, the Dresden Staatskapelle, and in London, the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, and now, the Philharmonia Orchestra. He has collaborated with such eminent soloists as Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlssen and Elizabeth Soderstrom.

Maestro Levine has recorded a wide range of repertoire from Mussorgsky and Shostakovich to Beethoven, Schubert and Bernstein. His 1997 recording of the Tchaikovsky Symphony III with the Royal Philharmonic on Telarc was one of that label's highest-selling CDs and was awarded the Three-Star - the highest rating, by The Times of London.

In 1994, at the wish of the Pope John Paul II, and for his musical and humanitarian contributions to Poland and the Vatican, Maestro Levine was invested as a Pontifical Knight-Commander of the Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great.

Gilbert Levine was educated at the Juilliard School of Music, and at Princeton and Yale universities. Further advanced study brought him to Europe for theoretical studies with Mlle. Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau and for conducting master classes with Maestro Franco Ferrara in Siena. He finished his apprenticeship by serving as Assistant to Sir Georg Solti in London and Paris, and later, as traveling protege of Maestro Klaus Tennstedt.