Music and Creative Beginnings with Justin Levine

The Harvest Series podcast, hosted by Rose Claverie, welcomes award-winning composer and music supervisor Justin Levine for a very special conversation that unfolds as much through sound as through words. Recorded in nature during Harvest, this episode blends music, reflection, and creative honesty.Levine shares how creativity should exist beyond productivity, why vulnerability is essential in collaboration, and how major works like Moulin Rouge! are built through trust, humility, and collective vision. He also reflects on courage, leadership, and learning to let creativity exist without judgment.What happens when we stop asking creativity to justify itself and allow it to simply be part of how we live?Chapters00:00 – Welcome to Harvest01:05 – Music as conversation, not performance03:40 – Teaching creativity for its own sake05:10 – Starting without talent or permission06:30 – Growing up self-taught in a musical home08:40 – Discovering music as a profession10:15 – What a music director actually does14:20 – Orchestrating Moulin Rouge!18:15 – Collaboration, ego, and leadership21:00 – Adapting iconic works for Broadway26:35 – Violence, music, and emotional impact32:40 – Courage, vulnerability, and creative trust36:20 – Closing reflections and musicYou can follow us on Instagram at @HarvestSeries or @rose.claverie for updates.Watch our podcast episodes and speaker sessions on YouTube: Harvest Series.Credits:Sound editing by: @lesbellesfrequencesTechnician in Kaplankaya: Joel MoriasiMusic by: ChambordHarvest Series is produced in partnership with Athena Advisers and Capital PartnersHarvest Series Founders: Burak Öymen and Roman Carel