What people are saying.

  • "Now here we are at New York's wonderful Center for Jewish History as soprano Karyn Levitt, accompanied by Jed Distler, plunged us back into the days when Hollywood was full of exiled and transplanted composers (including Weill, Korngold, Tiomkin, and Hanns Eisler) who found fruitful refuge in the studios. The show was as moving as it was educational."

    — James Gavin, award-winning music journalist and acclaimed author

  • "The American soprano Karyn Levitt… is one of the most important interpreters of Hanns Eisler's vocal music."

    — Eisler Mitteilungen 70

  • "BRAVA! [...] I cannot congratulate or praise you enough for the beautiful work you did, for introducing me to a repertoire and stories that were mostly new to me, and for your terrific and expressive singing. [...] What a rich theme you chose, and you drew the ultimate depth out of it. [...] It was my honor to be there to experience a show that good. It taught me a lot and gave me so much pleasure."

    — Award-winning music journalist and acclaimed book author James Gavin, regarding the On Hollywood and Weimar show at the York Theatre

  • "At a time in history when the subject of the day is exile, American soprano Karyn Levitt has chosen a worthy example to build a one-woman cabaret show around."

    Arts Review Europe

  • "The occasion was a triumph for soprano Karyn Levitt, who has worked diligently to bring Bentley’s Brecht translations to life, especially those settings he wrote to music of Hanns Eisler.... Full credit to Glen Roven and his Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra who accompanied Levitt in this convincing score, performed complete for the first time anywhere."

    Leonard Lehrman in SoundWordSight arts magazine, regarding the Eric Bentley Tribute at Town Hall

  • "Karyn Levitt’s interpretation of the [Eisler-Brecht] songs combines impressive technical competence with an unusual degree of emotional intelligence and sensitivity. Her skilful interpretation of songs and ballads such as ‘And what did she get?’ (‘Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?’) provides just one particularly striking example of the exceptionally high degree of accomplishment which characterises the entire CD."

    Ian Wallace, International Feuchtwanger Society

  • “A faculty member described the production as, in a word, 'amazing... Karyn Levitt is a superb and dynamic stage presence as well as a gifted vocalist and she infused the music with her own enthusiastic love and understanding of it…’”

    Brigid Doherty, Princeton University, Director of the Program in European Cultural Studies

  • "A beautifully presented and incisive evening of Eisler song. Soprano Karyn Levitt and pianist Eric Ostling really covered the amazing gamut of this artist with a purity in dedication and clarity of intention and musicality that make me want to hear it all over again. Eric Bentley's words so artfully and articulately embrace and yet still tangle with the music, we hear them as though for the first time, even those verses he has made famous in performance over the years. Their partnership with him [Bentley] and with Eisler made for a potent and adventurous evening."

    Bill Coco of The Actor's Studio, Pace University, NY

  • "Karyn Levitt is doing something which, to my ears, is new. My acquaintance with the Eisler songs is limited to (other) singers (who have) a harsh and urgent style, very much a product of the cruel and dangerous times in which the work first appeared. Ms. Levitt's approach, it seems to me, is to negotiate a passage for these songs into the concert hall. In place of the gritty style, she allows them to bloom and be beautiful in a way that perhaps Eisler would have questioned, but which is undoubtedly musically expressive, and opens the possibility of their finding another home and another public beyond their creator's expectations. I think this applies both to Levitt's performance and that of her accompanist (Eric Ostling), who seems a most resourceful artist."

    Irving Wardle of the London Times (a theatre critic's personal response to the show demo CD for Eric Bentley's Brecht-Eisler Song Book)

  • "The show itself is a tour de force of theater song and art song. In just 75 minutes, the concert brings to life “the dark times” of the Nazi period and its aftermath, as it does the poetry of Brecht and other German poets from Goethe to Karl Kraus. The remarkable lieder of Hanns Eisler range from Schumann-like songs to atonal pieces and the compelling theater songs, which Eisler composed for Brecht’s plays. Eric Bentley’s translations from the German are seamlessly fitted back to Eisler’s starkly beautiful and chilling settings and unlock these for a broad American audience.... Depicting a world shattered by Hitler and Stalin, an original work by pianist EricOstling, entitled “Eisler Medley,” provides the turning point in a show that evolves powerfully with each song.... Both Karyn Levitt and Eric Ostling are exceptional performers, who are dedicated to a unique and versatile repertory. The combination couldn’t be more felicitous for programs looking to foster a passion for both knowledge and the arts through the medium of the rich and suspenseful relationship between German and American culture, and I warmly recommend that they make use of all Karyn and Eric have to offer."

    Raluca Cernahoschi, Assistant Professor of German Studies, Bates College

  • "A unique program of seldom heard songs by Eisler, beautifully performed by Karyn Levitt whose range covers both the art song and cabaret. "

    Evert Sprinchorn, Professor Emeritus of Drama, Vassar College

  • "I was delighted with Ms. Levitt’s performance! It reminded me of when I lived in West Berlin. I heard a number of singers render Brecht songs, but Ms. Levitt has the greatest range and control of expression. "

    Laurence Senelick, Chair of the Tufts Theater Dept.

  • "It was a great pleasure to hear Karyn Levitt's performance. I thought it was quite powerful. "

    James K. Miller, www.eislermusic.com

  • "I have recommended your production to all my Goethe- colleagues in the US, in Canada, Mexico and Cuba. In my mail to these colleagues I mentioned that Eisler – in my opinion - is more modern then most of the modern composers."

    Detlef Gericke-Schoenhagen, Director of Boston Goethe Institut

  • "We were impressed with your research on Hanns Eisler to enrich your program Eric Bentley’s Brecht-Eisler Song Book and to prepare for a new show of Eisler songs. We are pleased to notify you that your request has been awarded."

    Michaela Ullman, Exile Studies Librarian, USC Libraries Special Collections