ABOUT

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

Gabriel is the Concertmaster & Resident Conductor of The Louisville Orchestra, Artistic Director & Conductor of the Louisville Civic Orchestra, Artistic Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Louisville, and an otherwise sought after soloist, conductor, guest concertmaster, chamber musician, and teacher. A progressive musician of the 21st century, Gabriel is also a 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).

Conductor

At The Louisville Orchestra, Gabriel is the newly appointed Resident Conductor (in addition to his role as Concertmaster), conducting multiple programs each season featuring repertoire ranging from Baroque Concerti to Mozart Symphonies to Disney Classics to World Premieres, and everything in between. This LO season, Gabriel conducts the complete Brandenburg Concerti, a semi-staged production of A Christmas Carol, a holiday show entitled Nat King Cole Christmas, and an installment of LO’s beloved Music Without Borders series featuring music by the LO Creators Corps, John Williams’ Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 “Italian”. Gabriel has become especially beloved by LO audiences for his ability to perform as both conductor and conductor-soloist within the same program.

As Artistic Director & 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. Highlights of the 2023-2024 LCO Season include performances of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, Holst’s The Planets, and a brand new work by NYC-based composer-performer Josh Henderson for vocalists, narrator, and orchestra entitled Brother Yasuke: Legend of the Afro-Samurai.

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.

Violinist

During his 7-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 Phoenix Symphony, Brevard Music Center, Britt Festival Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Nu Deco Ensemble.

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 concert music has been performed by the Phoenix Symphony, the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, and 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.

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