Levine, Rhoda

Rhoda Levine is a director and choreographer for theater and opera, both on and Off-Broadway, in London's West End, and for CBS and WNET television. She has staged operas for the Netherlands, Belgian, Scottish, San Francisco, Seattle, and Dallas Operas. In Holland she directed the world premiere of Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann, who tragically died in Auschwitz. She has often recreated the original production in both Europe and the United States. Her work has appeared at the Festival of Two Worlds (Italy and the United States), the Holland Festival, the Jerusalem Festival, and the Festival Cervantino. In 1996 she directed the South African premiere of Porgy and Bess in Capetown. For the New York City Opera, she directed the world premiere of X: The Life and Times of Malcom X, for which she was also artistic consultant; the American premiere of From the House of the Dead, and productions of Medea, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Die Soldaten, Mathis Der Maler, Rigoletto, Of Mice and Men, Lizzie Borden (televised by PBS), and Little Women. Her work for Glimmerglass Opera includes Robert Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik. Ms. Levine acted as Creative Consultant to Doris Lessing and Philip Glass on The Making of the Representative for Planet 8, and Creative Consultant and director on Wakonda's Dream for Opera Omaha.

On Broadway, she choreographed and staged the musical numbers for Pantagleize, Exit The King, War And Peace, The Grass Harp, The Sign In Sidney, Brustein's Window, Baby Want A Kiss, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Young Abe Lincoln, Lock Up Your Daughters, and Gianni Schicci (for the National Theatre of the Deaf). In the West End, Ms. Levine staged the musical numbers for Charles Strouse's Flowers For Algernon and the revue, Here Is The News. For television, she did all the musical staging for DuPont's Show Of The Month and assisted Joe Layton on The Gershwin Years.

Ms. Levine is the author of eight books for children, as well as libretti for Stanley Hollingsworth and Luciano Berio, for whom she wrote Children's Play for Wind Quintet, Op. No. Zoo. Along with Philip Glass and George Abbott she was a recipient of the National Institute of Music Theater Award for her contribution to American Musical Theater, as well as an award from the National Opera Association. She was awarded a peace medal from the Lakota Tribe for her contribution to Wakonda's Dream. Ms. Levine is the Artistic Director of the New York improvisational opera group, Play it by Ear.

Ms. Levine has been on the faculty of the Yale School of Drama, the Juilliard School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University, and is currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes School of Music. She is a graduate of Bard College (class of 1953), and was awarded the school's Charles Flint Kellog Award in Arts and Letters.

Sources: http://www.bostonmetroopera.com/rhoda-levine.html

http://www.msmnyc.edu/catalog/facbio.asp?fid=1008172972 (accessed May 18, 2011)

From the guide to the Rhoda Levine papers, 1952-2009, 1959-2004, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)