Lev Mamuya is a cellist, writer, and arts administrator whose work focuses the relationship between art and its consumers and interrogates the way cultural documents are received and evaluated. Having received a BA in History and Literature from Harvard in 2018, he completed his MM in cello performance at New England Conservatory in 2019, studying with Paul Katz and Yeesun Kim. Previous teachers include Michael Reynolds, Laura Blustein, Debbie Thompson, and Ronald Leonard. He has participated in the Perlman Music Program, the Banff Centre Masterclasses, and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and has worked as a research intern at the Bach Archive and Research Facility in Leipzig. 

An experienced soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, Mamuya is the cellist of the Semiosis Quartet. He has appeared with the Florida Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra. As a performer, Mamuya is most interested in contemporary artmaking in any form and the critical discourse surrounding it. Recent performance highlights include collaborations with Winsor Music, appearances with Boston-based string orchestra A Far Cry, Boston Public Quartet, and Castle of our Skins, and work with the American Repertory Theater, and more. As a composer and arranger, Mamuya’s classical works have enjoyed performance around the Northeast—he is also a producer whose music, heavily indebted to a variety of Afro-diasporic traditions, is released online exclusively to benefit relevant charity actions. 

Outside of his performing efforts, Mamuya wears many hats. He is a dedicated arts administrator—having served as the publisher of The Harvard Advocate during his undergraduate years, he is now and Admissions and Scholarship Coordinator at From the Top. He is a writer of both critical non-fiction and poetry whose work has recently appeared in The Drift—he studied with Pulitzer-prize-winning poet Jorie Graham and attended the Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore. Lastly, Mamuya is an avid cook and cat lover.

Learn more at https://www.levmamuya.com

Lev@SemiosisQuartet.com