Sir Gilbert Levine is a distinguished American conductor who has led major orchestras in the United States and abroad, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, the Dresden Staatskapelle, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and L’Orchestra de la Bastille. He has conducted televised concerts on PBS and the European Broadcasting Union.

He served as artistic director and conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic from 1987 to 1993, which led to the friendship and collaboration with Pope John Paul II he recounts in his new book, The Pope’s Maestro.

The historic series of Papal Concerts by Sir Gilbert included the Papal Concert to Commemorate the Shoah in 1994, and the 2004 Papal Concert of Reconciliation. Among his other work for the Pope was a concert at World Youth Day in Denver, 1993 and concerts celebrating the Jubilee Year of 2000. Other concerts that Levine conceived and worked on with the Pope’s blessing included a Concert of Remembrance and Reconciliation in a synagogue in Krakow; and a tour of America and Europe during which he conducted Haydn’s “The Creation” at cathedrals in Rome, London, and Baltimore. He also conducted a memorial concert after John Paul II’s death in 2005.

Sir Gilbert was invested as a Knight Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1994, the highest Papal knighthood accorded to a non-ecclesiastical musician since Mozart. In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI honored Levine with the Silver Star of Saint Gregory, the highest rank of pontifical nobility achieved by a Jew in the history of the Vatican.

Levine’s life as “the Pope’s Maestro” has been the subject of numerous television, radio, and newspaper stories and interviews, including a Polish television documentary and a “60 Minutes” profile. Asked to sum up his experience with the pope for “60 Minutes,” Levine said, “Well, he’s the most wonderful human being you’d ever want to meet. And me, I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Sir Gilbert and his wife, Vera, have two sons, David and Gabriel. They live in New York.