Double bassist Benjamin Levy was born in Cooperstown, New York in 1980 and grew up in Pennsylvania and Colorado. While in high school he studied with David Potter, and spent two summers studying with Stuart Sankey at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Levy has appeared in performance with soprano Dawn Upshaw, the Borromeo String Quartet, and the Hawthorne String Quartet. In 2002, while a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Mr. Levy was the recipient of the Maurice Schwartz Prize and was reviewed in The New York Times for his performance of Jacob Druckman's "Valentine" for solo double bass. A recent graduate of New England Conservatory, Mr. Levy joined the bass section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 2003 Tanglewood season. Mr. Levy's teachers have included David Potter, Todd Seeber, Timothy Pitts, Paul Ellison, and Stuart Sankey.