Louise Costigan-Kerns and Dan Levitan, two faculty members of the Stanford Music Department, will delight you with music for Piano & Harp, including works by Ravel and Debussy.
Musicians:
Louise Costigan-Kerns, piano
Dan Levitan, harp
Louise Costigan-Kerns, Piano
Louise Costigan-Kerns has performed internationally as a concert pianist and collaborative pianist. Her concerts have been reviewed as “inspiring and technically amazing performances.”
Ms. Costigan-Kerns attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees Pi Kappa Lambda. She was on the faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Founding Director of the New England Conservatory Extension Division Opera Studio. Ms. Costigan-Kerns maintained an active performing career in the Boston. Over the years she was a member of the Opera Department at Boston University, piano faculty at Phillips Exeter Academy and Artist in Residence at Brandeis University.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, Ms. Costigan-Kerns is a member of the piano faculty in the Stanford University Department of Music and a voice/opera coach and recital pianist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Ms. Costigan-Kerns is active as a recital pianist, opera coach and accompanist for singers and instrumentalists. Her Bay Area performances with orchestra include performances with the Redwood Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, Santa Cruz Symphony, Winchester Orchestra and the New Millenniun Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Costigan-Kerns’ first solo piano CD, “My Favorite Performances,” was released in 2004. “Piano With Passion,” was released in 2007 and “Into the Light,” was released in 2011. All are available on iTunes/Apple Music and cdbaby.com. She can be seen performing Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Shostakovich and Harrison on YouTube. You can stream her music and follow her on Spotify. If you would like to be included on her concert email list, please email Louise at [email protected].
Dan Levitan, Harp
Dan Levitan is a faculty member of the Stanford University Department of Music. Dan holds contracts as the Principal Harpist with three professional orchestras: Santa Rosa Symphony, Marin Symphony, and Symphony San Jose. He is the solo harpist with Carmel-Bach Festival, having performed solo, chamber music, and other concerts as a member of the Festival orchestra. He has been the “first call” harpist with the San Francisco Opera since August 2008. He regularly performs for the San Jose Chamber, Mission Chamber, UC Berkeley Symphony orchestras and is sought after as a soloist by numerous other orchestras, choirs, and ensembles throughout northern California.
Mr. Levitan’s concerto performances by Bach (Johann Christian), Boieldieu, Debussy, Ginastera, Glière, Mozart, Ravel, Reinecke, and Saint-Saëns with orchestras throughout the San Francisco Bay Area have been highly praised by local critics, who write of his “impeccable virtuosity” (San José Metro), “virtual perfection” (Marin Independent Journal) and “precision and élan” (Mercury News). His most recent concerto performance was the Hindemith concerto for harp, 4 (four) woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon) and orchestra with the Santa Rosa Symphony. Internationally, Mr. Levitan was invited to perform two works for harp and string quartet at the Seventh World Harp Congress in Prague, Czech Republic, and was a semi-finalist in the prestigious 10th International Harp Competition in Israel. As a teacher and coach, he coaches for California Youth Symphony (CYS), Golden State Youth Orchestra (GSYS), as well as San Jose Youth Symphony (SJYS), in addition to teaching privately.
Born and educated in Philadelphia, Mr. Levitan received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Music Performance and in Music Education from Temple University —both magna cum laude—and was named “Most Promising Musician” on graduation. He studied with Margarita Montanaro, (retired) Co-Principal Harpist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and internationally acclaimed harpists Susann McDonald and the late Susanna Mildonian, as well as the well-known late Bay Area Harpists Anne Adams, Marcella DeCray, and Phyllis Schlomovitz.
Funded in part by the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund. We are grateful for the generous support of all of our donors.
