Jan Levinson met her first muse in elementary school as a student using a silent wooden keyboard. She studied piano, voice and composition in New York City with various private teachers, and then graduated from Bard College, where she worked with award-winning composer Joan Tower and The Da Capo Chamber Players. Ms. Levinson's early work is recorded on the Composers' Recordings, Inc., label.

In the early 1990s, Jan left the East Coast for Wyoming, where she discovered nature, a new muse, and inspired by the Grand Teton mountain range and other "places," created neoclassical works for piano and orchestral instruments. She liked to call herself a "place composer," as her passion was writing in sound what she visually saw and emotionally or spiritually felt.

Jan's recordings Teton Seasons (1997) and Sunrise (2000) are invitations to experience nature and to connect with the Earth through these images painted with sound. Jewels of Light (2004) invites the listener to bathe in these lush sound pictures to relax the energy (chakra) systems of the physical body. The Muse (2006) was an offering of original songs, where Jan shared her vision for peace in our time.

In 2002, Snowbow, from the Sunrise CD, received a second place award in the Best Solo Instrumental Song category from Just Plain Folks, the internet's largest musical community.

Jan's accomplishments also included: the Teton Seasons DVD (2006), with photographs by Kurt Johnson; and the Grand Teton Suite for full orchestra and piano, which she performed with the Jackson Hole Symphony under Eric Wenstrom in 2002. The Winds. a chamber piece, was commissioned by The Wyoming Music Teachers' Association and premiered at their convention in 2001. She also composed and performed two duets: Aurora, for oboe and piano with Roger Watson, and Sapphire Blue, for piano and cello, with Gregory Murray.

In 2006, Jan found a new muse, the Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, "a never-ending prism of inspirations," she said. At the time of her death in August 2007, from cancer, Jan's works in progress included a series of books and accompanying music entitled In the Flow and a suite of compositions based on specific locations such as Limontour, Lagunitas State Park and the Farallon Islands.

Ms. Levinson's CDs continue to be used by traditional and alternative healthcare practitioners worldwide to relieve stress and promote physical and emotional healing for their patients. Spiritual retreat centers, yoga studios and spas have also discovered the soothing qualities of Jan's music. Several national parks in the West feature her CDs in their gift stores.

For further information or questions / suggestions, please email: webmaster@jlmusic.com