Lev, Ray

By Jeremiah Favara and Carol Stabile

Ray Lev (1910 or 1912-1968) was a classical pianist. Lev had a thirty-year career as a pianist, playing annual recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York City and touring the world. Throughout her career, Lev was committed to supporting minority groups and foreign-born individuals. This commitment led to her being named in Red Channels and investigated by the FBI. 

Biography

Lev was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia on May 8, either in 1910 or 1912. She came to the US with her father, Moses Lev, and mother, Deborah Lev, when she was an infant and the family sought refuge during the Russian Revolution. Her father was a cantor and Lev began singing in his choir in New Haven, Connecticut before hearing a piano recital and wanting to become a pianist. She attended James Madison High School, where she studied typing because of economic pressures at home. She completed two years of high school before winning a New York Philharmonic Symphony Society Scholarship that allowed her to concentrate on music. She subsequently spent the summers of 1927-1929 at East Blue Hill, Maine, where she studied with noted organist, pianist and composer Gaston Dethier. In 1930, she won the American Matthay Prize and went to London to study under Tobias Matthay, a pianist and composer, for three years.1 

Lev’s debut performance occurred in 1931 at an Eastborne Music Festival in Eastbourne, England.2  She performed in London, at Wigmore Hall, a year later and gave two command performances at 10 Downing Street. She gave several recitals on the British Broadcasting Corporation network as well, before returning to the U.S. to make her debut at Carnegie Hall in 1934, where she played a Tchaikovsky concerto with the National Orchestral Association under Leon Barzin.3 Lev continued to perform at both the Town Hall and Carnegie Hall. Lev gave annual recitals at Carnegie Hall for much of her career.4

Her recitals were well attended and well received by critics. A 1944 review in The New York Times stated: “Lev, as usual, tackled an extremely ambitious program and played it with great energy and fire.”6 Lev’s annual recitals were known for her unique program selection, which combined classical pieces with shorter works by contemporary composers.7 Lev toured Europe frequently and also spent time in Japan performing and serving on the faculty of Tokyo University of Arts and Music. Lev played with a number of ensembles around the world, including the Japanese Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest String Quartet, and the Paganini and Gordon Quartets. Her final performance was on Sunday, April 28 with the Symphony of the New World at Philharmonic Hall in New York City.8

• 1"Ray Lev is Dead; Concert Pianist," New York Times, May 21, 1968.
• 2"Ray Lev is Dead; Concert Pianist," New York Times, May 21, 1968.
• 3"Ray Lev is Dead; Concert Pianist," New York Times, May 21, 1968.
• 4"Ray Lev Appears in Piano Recital: Brahms ‘Intermezzi’ and Chopin Sonata Given at Carnegie Hall," New York Times, November 5, 1942, 34. By 1960, Lev had performed at Carnegie Hall thirty five times.Sam Chase, “Ray Lev in Pre-Europe Concert," Billboard, October 10, 1960.
• 6"Mis Ray Lev, Pianist, in Exacting Program," New York Times, November 11, 1944, 19.
• 7Miss Ray Lev Plays Piano Recital Here," New York Times, November 21, 1953, 11.
• 8"Ray Lev is Dead; Concert Pianist," New York Times, May 21, 1968.

After she was named in Red Channels, Lev’s political engagement and commitment to social issues led to an extensive FBI investigation. The FBI closely tracked Lev’s living and travel arrangements as well as her involvement in organizations such as the National Council of Arts, Sciences, and Professions and the American Labor Party from the 1930s until 1967. During an FBI interview on December 14, 1953, Lev stated that “as a member of a minority group she believes her responsibility is to aid minority groups and foreign born.”1 Lev’s friendship with noted actor Paul Robeson was also of concern to the Bureau.

The FBI surveillance that resulted from Lev’s political views saw Lev’s anti-Fascist activities during World War II and her support for the American Committee for the Foreign Born) as evidence of her subversive activities.

In 1945, the FBI’s New York Field Office wrote J. Edgar Hoover, “That the purpose of the ‘Jewish black book’ was to graphically portray the atrocities committed by the Nazis during the war against the Jews in the various European countries. Among the sponsors for the dinner where the financial drive was launched was Ray Lev.2

This scrutiny landed Lev on the Bureau’s Security Index. Around the time the FBI started monitoring her movements, performances began to dry up. The FBI worked with the State Department to prevent Lev from traveling to Europe, where she could still find work. Lev turned to teaching to eke out a living, while the FBI continued to spy on her, eventually compiling a file that amounted to over 400 pages of information about her life and activities.

• 1Special Agent in Charge, New York, “Letter to Director FBI,” September 11, 1950, p. 13.
• 2”Special Agent in Charge, New York, “Letter to Director FBI,” September 11, 1950, 13.