As music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 2000, Yoel Levi built upon the estimable reputation he had established as assistant to Lorin Maazel with the Cleveland Orchestra. During his years in Atlanta, he recorded extensively with his orchestra, amassing more than 30 releases for Telarc. In the latter years of his Atlanta tenure, he began conducting opera successfully, quickly earning respect in that newest facet of his career.  Reared in Israel, Levi studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, where he was awarded his master of arts degree with distinction. After further training at the Jerusalem Academy of Music, he studied with Franco Ferrara in Rome and Siena and worked with Kiril Kondrashin in Holland. Additional training at London's Guildhall School of Music preceded Levi's first prize in the 1978 conductor's International Competition in Besançon.  During his years as music director in Atlanta, Levi was acknowledged as having enhanced