Marguerite Levin is the clarinet professor at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland.  A native Texan, she moved East in 1986 to assume a position with the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C.  Following a four year post with the band, she embarked upon a successful career as free-lance clarinetist in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area.  She was Principal Clarinetist with the Baltimore Opera Orchestra from 1999 until 2009.  Ensembles she has performed extensively with include the Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Chesapeake Orchestra, National Gallery Orchestra and the Post-Classical Ensemble. She has substituted with the Baltimore Symphony, Washington National Opera Orchestra and the National Symphony.  Theater work with local and national touring companies includes Arena Stage, National Theater, Lyric Opera House, Warner Theater, Signature Theater and the Morris Mechanic Theater.  Currently residing in Massachusetts, she is a member of the Key West Symphony and she has begun a new journey establishing a playing career in the Boston area.

As a member of opera and theater orchestras, she has performed with vocalists Renee Fleming, James Morris, Jose Carreras, Ruth Swenson, Alexandra Marc, Vivica Genaux, Renata Scotto; singer and actors Haley Mills, Barry Williams, Sandy Duncan; and conductors Christian Badea, Loren Maazel, Julius Rudel, Patrick Summers and Heinz Fricke.

Levin recorded for many years with the Washington Winds, a group that records at Omega Studios in Rockville, Maryland for the major music publishers of American wind band literature.  She can be heard as a member of the Post Classical Ensemble in their 2007 Naxos recording of Virgil Thomson’s The Plow That Broke the Plains and The River.  Most recently, Levin was the Principal Clarinetist for the 2010 Grammy Nominated recording of the Wolf Trap Opera production of John Musto’s Volpone.

In addition to her orchestral playing, Levin has a well-established chamber music career.  She was the founder and clarinetist of the award-winning Atlantic Winds Woodwind Quintet.  They were three-time winners of the Baltimore Chamber Music Awards Competition and two-times selected for the Virginia Touring Artist Roster. Through Young Audiences of Maryland, the ensemble played for thousands of school-aged children in Maryland from 1994 until 2003.  In addition to wind quintets, Levin has performed with the Carpe Diem String Quartet and the Florin String Quartet.  At Towson University, she is a member of Quintigre, the faculty wind quintet and the Towson New Music Ensemble.

Levin is an active member of the International Clarinet Association.  Currently, she serves as the Coordinator of the High School Solo Competition.  She was the Artistic Director of the 2004 ClarinetFest in College Park, Maryland and she has adjudicated in the Young Artist Solo Competition, the High School Solo Competition and the Research Competition. ClarinetFests that she has performed in include Lubbock, Salt Lake City, College Park,  Atlanta, Tama, Japan and Porto, Portugal.

A highly successful teacher, Levin’s private students have received positions in District, County and State bands and orchestras in Texas, Virginia and Maryland.  Many of these students continued their music education in college and received notable scholarships to universities such as the Cincinnati College/Conservatory of Music, Indiana University, University of Virginia, Peabody Conservatory, and the New England Conservatory of Music.  At Towson University, her students have received some of the department’s most notable awards including First and Third Prize in the Peggy Friedman Gordon Competition.

Levin received her Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas under Dr. James Gillespie.  She received her Master of Music degree in Performance from the Catholic University of America under Robert Genovese and Leon Russianoff.   Her Doctor of Music degree in Performance was received from the University of Maryland/College Park under Loren Kitt.  Other noted clarinet teachers include Andrew Crisanti, Stephen Girko, and Edward Palanker.  Before her assuming her position at Towson University, she was a Lecturer in Music at Howard University in Washington, D. C. where she taught clarinet, chamber music, and music theory.