MARA LEVI BIO
Mara Levi has been studying music since age 4, and has had a blast working with some of the greatest musicians you can imagine. Learn about some of Mara's favorite projects and formative experiences here.
PERFORMING
Mara began playing Suzuki piano at age 4, and added trumpet when they were 12. At Amherst College Mara began singing with the Choral Society and with the a capella group, The DQ, and they continued playing trumpet in the Jazz Ensemble. Then, in 1996, Mara joined the band Kid Sampson and began playing electric bass. Mara wrote and arranged music for all of these groups including a Jazz Composition thesis in 1999. Kid Sampson stopped performing in 2001 but Mara continued pursuing a solo career and began playing acoustic guitar. Mara recorded three solo albums before joining with The Pushovers starting in 2008 (ish). Check out all of these albums on the Projects page!
All of these experiences shaped the music that Mara creates, and the techniques they teach.
LIFE
Mara was born in Oberlin, OH, and moved to Shaker Heights, OH when they were 8. Some of their favorite activities growing up were playing soccer, playing in the marching band, and playing hacky sack outside of Arabica.
Mara left Ohio to attend Amherst College and then moved to New York City. After a brief time there, they returned to the Pioneer Valley to pursue performing full time. After several years Mara moved to Washington, DC, still working as a performer. In 2009 they moved to Brooklyn and in 2011 Mara got married. They completed a Master's degree in Music Education at NYU in 2012 and have been teaching in the classroom since then. Mara's family moved back to Northampton in 2016 and they currently teach vocal music, songwriting, music production, and history at Commerce High School in Springfield.
Mara also leads The Music Project at CMSS in Springfield, and the Pride Chorus at NCMC in Northampton.
PROJECTS MARA DIGS