"The [Chopin] F minor forms a test for the complete musician: bold, finger-challenging runs in the outer two movements; introspective, emotional writing in the middle, slow movement. Working listeners into a frenzy by the end of the work, Lewin graciously calmed unsettled nerves with a contemplative etude as an encore."
Boston Herald

“His immense technique and ability qualify him eminently for success”.  New York Times

"Piano soloist Michael Lewin played authoritatively and successfully captured the bravura evidently intended by Menotti's dramatic music.
Chicago Star

"The pianist played them excitingly, reaching the highest pitch in the music's brilliant climax.... Lewin was given a warm ovation after his scintillating performance."
The Indianapolis Star

"If I cannot say enough good of him, it is because he is a pianist after my heart with technique to burn, power to spare, passionate excitement, subtlety, beautiful tone quality, and the rare gift of being able to project his love and understanding throughout the audience. I have had the good fortune of hearing all the great pianists of our age, but I cannot recall any performance more gripping than this one." Las Vegas Review-Journal   

"Be advised not to miss your next chance to hear him." Boston Herald

"Lewin, considered to be one of the world's top interpreters of Liszt, was splendid, treating the audience to a dazzling afternoon not likely to be soon forgotten. He challenged the orchestra to rise up and play beyond their mortal capabilities."
Las Vegas Sun

"Lewin was brilliant. He gave vent to the theatricality of the Menotti with a flair for the dramatic that never got out of hand. Lewin's performance was high drama mixed with superb taste. Even more impressive were the pianist's moments with all those more intimate notes he so impeccably played with such dazzling virtuosity."
Reno Gazette-Journal

"He plays with what looks like a feather-light touch, but the notes explode from the piano... He demonstrated an intellect to drive the technique. His playing in the opening movement marshalled all the seething drama of the music without sacrificing the clarity of Mozart's intricate inner part-writing... he played with stunning brilliance."
The Charleston Gazette
 

News: CD Release on Dorian Sono Luminus: If I Were A Bird "Lewin’s dexterous keyboard work and affection for this repertoire (not to mention gorgeous packaging) is something fans of the solo piano genre and ornithologists alike will gobble up." (Time Out Chicago)

"I am delighted by this collection of music inspired by our fine feathered friends. Both the repertory and the pianist hearken back to the time when music came on 10- or 12-inch shellac platters, and when pianists, no matter how virtuosic they were, treated music-making as an intimate, unhurried activity. Lewin leaves you smiling broadly after the CD is done, and for some time after. The engineering is as warm and lovely as the music and the performances. Strike a blow against big, dumb, competition-winning pianism—Lord knows nothing can kill it now anyway—by surrendering yourself to Michael Lewin for 73 minutes. He could have named this CD after a classic Sinatra album: Come Fly With Me." - (Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine, July 2010)

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Michael Lewin enjoys a distinguished international reputation as one of America’s most gifted and charismatic concert pianists, performing in 30 countries as orchestral soloist and in recital.

Mr. Lewin’s upcoming concert season is marked by an international selection of engagements, including solo and orchestral appearances in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Greece and Puerto Rico. In England, he will perform his London recital debut at Wigmore Hall followed by a recital at Oxford University. He will perform with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and make his first tour of Turkey. Many of his recital programs will feature music spanning three centuries that is inspired by birds, from his upcoming recording “If I Were a Bird.”

He has concertized in such venues as New York’s Lincoln Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, Pasadena's Ambassador Auditorium, the Library of Congress, the Great Hall in Moscow, Hong Kong's City Hall Theater, Taipei's National Concert Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, Wilmington's Grand Opera House, the Athens Megaron, the Opera House of Cairo, Holland’s Muziekcentrum Vredenburg and at the Spoleto Festival. 

With a repertoire of forty piano concertos, Michael Lewin has appeared as soloist with an international list of orchestras, including the Netherlands Philharmonic, Cairo Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, Filharmónica de Jalisco (Guadalajara), the Thessaloniki State Symphony of Greece, the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Symphonies of Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, Puerto Rico Chamber Orchestra, North Carolina, Sinfonia da Camera, the Jupiter Symphony, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.  In 2000 he gave the world premiere of the David Kocsis Concerto for the New Millennium. Television appearances include a PBS Television recital hosted by Victor Borge that has been aired often throughout the United States. He has been the featured interview in Clavier and Piano & Keyboard magazines and edited piano music of Griffes for C.F.Peters. A Steinway Artist, he was Artistic Director of the Gala Steinway Artists 150^th Anniversary Concert held in 2003 in Boston’s Symphony Hall.

Michael Lewin’s career was launched with victories at the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition in the Netherlands, the American Pianists Association Beethoven Fellowship and the William Kapell International Competition. He has also won prestigious career grants from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Aaron Copland Recording Fund. Mr. Lewin made a notable New York recital debut in Lincoln Center in 1984.

Michael Lewin’s solo recordings on Naxos, Marco Polo and Centaur have received extraordinary critical praise, and reflect the great breadth of his musical passions. His recording of piano music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk entitled Bamboula! was chosen as a “Top 10 Pick” by the Boston Herald, while the Boston Globe enthused that “Lewin has the chops and the charm for these pieces.” His Naxos releases include a collection of Keyboard Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti and the first recordings of the complete piano music of American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes (in two volumes).  Mr. Lewin's recordings on Centaur Records include Michael Lewin plays Liszt and A Russian Piano Recital, featuring music of Scriabin, Glazunov and Balakirev. His recording of the Violin and Piano Sonatas of William Bolcom with violinist Irina Muresanu was released on Centaur last year. The Lewin-Muresanu Duo has maintained an active performance schedule since their formation in 2003.

In addition to his concert career Mr. Lewin is one of the music world’s most sought-after teachers. He maintains a select studio of gifted pianists at The Boston Conservatory, where he is also Artistic Director of the Piano Masters Series. A native of New York, he studied at the Juilliard School. His teachers included Leon Fleisher, Irwin Freundlich, Adele Marcus, and Yvonne Lefébure. For more information, please visit his website at www.michaellewin.com