Gabriel Lefkowitz

Concertmaster and Resident Conductor

American violinist and conductor Gabriel Lefkowitz has captivated audiences throughout the U.S. and abroad in an unusually dynamic and multi-faceted career as a performer, creator, and educator.

He concurrently serves as Concertmaster and Resident Conductor of The Louisville Orchestra and Artistic Director & Conductor of the Louisville Civic Orchestra and is a highly sought-after guest concertmaster, concerto soloist, conductor, chamber musician, and teacher. A progressive musician of the 21st century, Gabriel is also a commercially successful composer who has written the music for several video games, composed several full-length albums of original music (one of which has over a million views on YouTube), and was the featured violin soloist on the soundtrack for the film Harriet (Focus Features).

Violinist

During his 6-year tenure as Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra so far, Gabriel has led nearly 200 different programs from the concertmaster chair and has performed the violin concerti of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky, Bach, Vivaldi, and others. In October 2019, Gabriel performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with LO music director Teddy Abrams, Jim James, and several LO colleagues to promote the orchestra’s new album The Order of Nature.

In 2011, at the age of 23, Gabriel became one of the youngest concertmasters of a professional orchestra in the U.S. when he was appointed Concertmaster of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. During his 6-year tenure with KSO, Gabriel performed the concerti of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Korngold, Mozart (No. 3), and others. He also founded the KSO’s still beloved and wildly successful Concertmaster Series (then called Gabriel Lefkowitz & Friends) at which he performed over 30 recitals (16 different programs with no overlapping repertoire) over the course of 5 seasons.

Recent guest engagements include concerto performances of Brahms (Brevard Philharmonic), Stravinsky (Monteux School and Music Festival Orchestra), Florence Price No. 1 (McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra – the Ohio premiere of this work), Mozart No. 4 (Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra), Mozart No. 5 (Oak Ridge Symphony), Philip Glass No. 1 (Ocala Symphony), and performing as guest concertmaster with the Brevard Music Center, Britt Festival Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nu Deco Ensemble.

Conductor

As Artistic Director and conductor of the Louisville Civic Orchestra since 2020, Gabriel has led the organization to new artistic heights and civic distinction for its high-quality performances, diverse programming and audience engagement, and fundraising/outreach initiatives on behalf of homeless shelters, cancer support networks, healthcare workers, and more. This season, Gabriel and the LCO perform music by Beethoven, Schubert, Price, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Bernstein, Barber, Copland, Gershwin, and more.

At the Louisville Orchestra, Gabriel has become a familiar and engaging podium presence, having conducted multiple concert cycles featuring repertoire ranging from Baroque concerti to Holiday Pops, Romantic symphonies to Disney Classics, and more. This season, he conducts three such programs with the LO: Disney in Concert: Magical Music from the Movies!, Happy Holidays with The Louisville Orchestra, and Love at First Listen (feat. music by Bach, Tyler Taylor, and Schubert). Gabriel has become especially beloved by LO audiences for his ability to perform as both conductor and conductor-soloist within the same program. Gabriel served as Cover Conductor of the LO during the 2021-2022 season, stepping in twice on short notice to the acclaim of audiences and musician colleagues alike.

Passionate about inspiring the next generation of musicians, Gabriel has conducted/coached the youth orchestras of Boston, Taiwan, Knoxville, Central Kentucky, and Juilliard’s Pre-College division, as well as multiple educational clinics around the U.S. and abroad.

Other professional conducting appearances include the University of Louisville’s 2021 Festival of New Music, the NouLou Chamber Players, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Dubuque Festival Orchestra, and the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra, of which he was Music Director during the 2014-2015 season.

Composer

Under the alias Green Forge Studio Gabriel has composed the soundtracks for multiple video games, including the recent releases Aces & Adventures and Pop-Up Dungeon. He also created music for the multi-million dollar theme resort Ancient Lore Village in East Tennessee. His orchestral music has been performed by the Knoxville and Owensboro Symphony Orchestras as well as the Dubuque Festival Orchestra. He has released four original albums (and one Christmas album!) to YouTube, and his music has been enjoyed by over a million users on the platform, in addition to being licensed by a multitude of content creators, podcasters, and Twitch streamers.

Gabriel holds a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University where he studied music and economics and a Masters from The Juilliard School where he studied violin with Joel Smirnoff and Masao Kawasaki. He has studied conducting with pedagogues including Michael Jinbo, Markand Thakar, Larry Rachleff, David Effron, and others.

(Updated August 2024)