Levine Andrade was born in Bombay, and came to England at the age of 9. He was awarded a scholarship to the Yehudi Menuhin School and became one of its 12 founder members. He studied at the school with Robert Masters and Yehudi Menuhin, also receiving master classes from several eminent visiting professors. It was at this time that Levine's love of contemporary music started to develop, as he had the opportunity of learning harmony and composition with Nadia Boulanger and Margaret Hubicki. At the age of 11, BBC Television made a full documentary about him in their series "Life of a Child". Just before leaving the school he took up the viola, which he studied with Patrick Ireland who was coaching chamber music at the school.

At 15 he was awarded a Vaughan-Williams scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. There he studied the violin with Frederick Grinke, the viola with Max Gilbert, and was coached in chamber music by Sidney Griller and Colin Hampton. As a student he started to freelance with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Orchestra. While at the Royal Academy he won many prizes for violin, viola and chamber music, and was honoured with a scholarship for a 4th year of study, after which he went on to obtain the highest accolade in his Recital Diploma.

Later still at the Academy, the Arditti Quartet was formed with 3 other students, inspired by their mutual interest in 20th Century Music, in which they specialised. In the seventeen years he played with them, the quartet had an unparalleled career, performing at almost every major music festival throughout the world to great critical acclaim. Their series of concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London was voted as "Concert of the Year" by the Daily Telegraph. They were asked to play the opening recital for the new Concert Hall of the Louvre Museum in Paris, and the live recording of that concert was awarded one of France's highest recording awards.

Their extensive and unique series of recordings won several prizes, including the coveted Grand Prix du Disque, and their recording of Bela Bartok's 4th quartet was nominated for a Grammy award. They have also broadcast world-wide for virtually every Radio station, and have appeared on several Television programmes, notably "The South Bank Show", in which they gave the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's "Quartettino", and BBC Television's "Music in Our Time" where the whole programme was devoted to the many famous composers with which the Quartet had become synonymous: John Cage, Eliott Carter, Brian Ferneyhough, Helmut Lachenman, Gyorgy Ligeti and Iannis Xenakis. Levine also gave the television premiere of Krystof Penderecki's "Capriccio" for Solo Viola on Polish Television.

The Quartet was also awarded the coveted Siemens prize for outstanding achievement in the field of groundbreaking music, and several of their recordings have been incorporated by the BBC into their time capsules. Their record of the Elliott Carter string quartets was also awarded the title of 'the record of the decade'.

Levine left the quartet and their very busy touring schedule in 1990 to spend more time with his wife, three boys and a girl, and now works almost exclusively in London as a freelance musician, where he enjoys a varied musical life, regularly performing concertos mostly in London, both on the violin and viola, as well as leading and directing various orchestras. He enjoys playing principal viola in chamber orchestras and performs as much chamber music as time allows, one regular event being Robert Cohen's Summer Festival in Charleston Manor. He has also conducted summer concerts at Manor Houses around England as part of a British Heritage concert series.

Some of the orchestras that Levine has either been concertmaster, principal 2nd Violin or principal viola include The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Ballet Rambert, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra - Holland, the London Festival Orchestra, the English Music Theatre Company, the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the London Gala Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Locrian Ensemble, the New Symphony Orchestra, the Feinstein Ensemble, the BBC Big Band, the BBC Studio Players, the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Players, the London Big Band, the London Mozart Players, the Mannheim Big Band, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, the Scottish Dance Theatre and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra.

The Daily Telegraph described Levine as "a potently eloquent soloist" after a performance of Vaughan-Williams' 'Flos Campi' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and he also performed the 'Chopraya' Concerto for viola, flute and harp at the late night proms.

In addition to his Classical side, in the commercial field Levine has played for most of the big film composers of the present day (some of whom have written featured solos especially for him) such as Barry Adamson, David Arnold, John Barry, Mike Batt, Elmer Bernstein, Stanley Black, Howard Blake, Bruce Broughton, John Cacavas, John Dankworth, Carl Davis, Don Davis, John Debney, Georges Delerue, Patrick Doyle, Randy Edelman, Cliff Eidelman, Danny Elfman, Robert Farnon, George Fenton, Elliott Goldenthal, Ron Goodwin, Jerry Goldsmith, Christopher Gunning, Wolfgang Hammerschmidd, Marvin Hamlisch, Richard Hartley, Richard Harvey, Nigel Hess, Mike Hewer, Mark Isham, Laurie Johnson, Wilfred Josephs, Michael Kamen, Michel Legrand, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Brian May, Henry Mancini, Robert Miller, Ennio Morricone, Stanley Myers, David Newman, Randy Newman, Alex North, Michael Nyman, Barrington Pheloung, Basil Poledouris, Rachel Portman, Richard Rodney-Bennett, Eric Rogers, David Rose, Mark Russell, Philippe Sarde, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, Christopher Stone, Toru Takemitsu, Jeff Wayne, John Williams, Debbie Wiseman and Gabriel Yared.

For recordings he has worked with artistes which include 5IVE, A1, Geoffrey Abbott, Larry Adler, Air, Julie Andrews, Joan Armatrading, Bjork, Jon Bon-Jovi, Richard Bonynge, Emma Boundy, Linda Bravo, Sarah Brightman, Brotherhood of Man, Len Cariou, Jose Carreras, Carson, Cher, Nenah Cherry, Petula Clark, Phil Collins, Randy Crawford, Billy Currie, Terence Trent D'Arby, Celine Dion, Placido Domingo, Duran Duran, Charles Dutoit, Sheena Easton, Shena, Eurythymics, Five, Jerome Flynn, Maria Friedman, Gareth Gates, Stefan Grapelli, Rolf Harris, Goldie Hawn, Ofra Haza, Nick Heyward, Hot Chocolate, Steven Houghton, Whitney Houston, Natalie Imbruglia, J, Elton John, Martyn Joseph, Jackie Joyce, Kings of Convenience, Kiri Te Kanawa, Vincenzo La Scola, Annie Lennox, Francois Le Roux, Leilani, Jeff Leyton, Tasmin Little, Madness, Madonna, Vanessa Mae, Sananda Maitreya, Claire Martin, Paul McCartney, Bobby McFerrin, McFly, Yehudi Menuhin, Pat Metheny, George Michael, Meatloaf, Next of Kin, Olivia Newton John, Sinead O'Connor, Elaine Paige, Robert Palmer, Luciano Pavarotti, Anoop Pillai, Prefab Sprout, Cliff Richard, Lionel Richie, Robson & Jerome, Sade, Leo Sayer, S Club 7, Shack, George Shearing, Silje, Carly Simon, Simply Red, Mel Smith, Spice Girls, Sting, Dave Stewart, Suggs, Joan Sutherland, Sweetmouth, Swing Out Sister, Take That, Tears for Fears, The Beautiful South, The Pogues, The Real Thing, The Shapeshifters, Tina Turner, Judie Tzuke, Upside Down, Barratt Noel Waugh, Westlife, Wet Wet Wet, Debra Wharmby, Robin Williams, Matt Willis, Wings, Matt Willis and Paul Young.

In concert he has played for such diverse artistes as Pearl Bailey, Michael Ball, Antonio Banderas, Guy Barker, Shirley Bassey, Louis Belson, Tony Bennett, George Benson, Stanley Black, Andrea Boccelli, Victor Borge, Boyzone, Bill Bruford, Kate Bush, Jose Carreras, Diahann Carroll, Kate Ceberano, Charlotte Church, Eric Clapton, Glenn Close, Natalie Cole, Perry Como, Stewart Copeland, Vic Damone, Dame Edna Everage, Eternal, Bruce Forsyth, Maria Friedman, Tim Garland, Lesley Garrett, Larry Hagman, Engelbert Humperdinck, Julio Iglesias, Sammy Davis Jr., Buddy Greco, Larry Hagman, Hear'Say, Mark Isham, Tom Jones, Danny Kaye, Howard Keel, Nigel Kennedy, Cleo Laine, Jennifer Lopez, Joe Lovano, Vera Lynn, Lata Mangeshkar, Barry Manilow, Dean Martin, Mary Martin, Johnny Mathis, Matt Monroe, Ron Moody, The Muppetts, Randy Newman, Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Gene Pitney, Cliff Richard, Riverdance, Elena Roggero, Gunter Schuller, Neil Sedaka, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Smith, Barbra Streisand, Jethro Tull, Twiggy, Vangelis, Rick Wakeman, Russell Watson, Barry White, Robbie Williams, Andy Williams, Edgar Winter and Led Zeppelin.

For Television he has regularly played at the Royal Variety and Royal Gala Performances, and has played on several TV shows for Marti Caine, The Two Ronnies, Des O'Connor, Bruce Forsyth and Michael Parkinson. He has also played for such classics as "Last of the Summer Wine", "To the Manor Born", "Allo Allo", "Inspector Morse", The House of Eliott", "Fortunes of War", "Soldier Soldier", "Pride & Prejudice" and on a variety of theme tunes for Television programmes as well as on Michael Parkinson and Terry Wogan's chat shows.

He has also recorded music for public performance for the Madame Tussauds Group, which is to be played at castles around England to give atmosphere to their historic exhibits, and also music for the 1996 Olympics that was played in Atlanta during the Games.

After leaving the quartet Levine has also had the opportunity to conduct music for film, television, radio and record albums, as well as founding the London Telefilmonic Orchestra to play for various films and commercials. He has also written a film score for "Strings", a film based on the true-life story of a Bosnian Cellist, and is writing for and producing various record albums featuring music from around the globe.

© 2008 by Levine Andrade