Alexander Levine is a Russian composer, based in England. He began studying music at age 6 at the Gnessin Music School, playing piano and clarinet, and he advanced to the Gnessin Music Academy, where he was a student from 1976 to 1980. He also played guitar in the Orchestra of Russian National Radio and Television. He became known as a composer and worked in Russia until 1992, when he moved to England. He won the Wingate Foundation scholarship to study composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he received his MA in 1995. Levine was commissioned to compose music for Peter Clough's production of War and Peace at London's Barbican, and later became involved with the restoration of The Beggar's Opera. Levine's setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom was performed by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Opera Choir at the Easter Festival each year from 2008 to 2011. His catalog also includes chamber music and orchestral works.