Walter Levin is a German-born musician who founded and played first violin of the LaSalle Quartet at Colorado College.[1] Levin was also professor of violin and chamber music for thirty-six years at the University of Cincinnati. Since 2002, he has been Adviser of the Chamber Music Chair at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, in Madrid, and teaching across Europe. Levin has authored several publications and has participated in several TV productions. He lives in Basel, Switzerland.
The LaSalle Quartet recorded an extensive discography for the Deutsche Grammophon label on an exclusive basis, and won both the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and the Grand Prix du Disque. Several avant-garde composers wrote music specifically for the quartet, including Luigi Nono, György Ligeti, Witold Lutosławski and Mauricio Kagel.
He was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1924 and began his musical studies in Tel Aviv and at the Juilliard School of Music of New York with Ivan Galamian. There he was distinguished with a special postgraduate diploma on Chamber Music, created specifically for him.