Courtney Lewis (conductor)

Courtney Lewis (born May 29, 1984) is a British conductor. He is the Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He co-founded the Boston chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble in 2008 and served as associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra from 2009 to 2014.

History

Lewis was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a pupil at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and later attended the University of Cambridge, during which time he studied composition with Robin Holloway and clarinet with Dame Thea King, graduating with starred first class honours. After completing a Master’s Degree with a focus on the music of György Ligeti, he attended the Royal Northern College of Music, where his teachers included Sir Mark Elder and Clark Rundell.

Previous appointments have included Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, where he made his subscription debut in the 2011/12 season, and Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he first conducted in 2011. A passionate advocate of music education, Courtney Lewis was the co-founder and Music Director of Boston’s acclaimed Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra which was dedicated not only to giving concerts of contemporary and established repertoire at the highest level of musical and technical excellence, but also bringing live music into the least privileged parts of Boston with workshops in local schools. Discovery Ensemble closed in 2014 after the Board declared a fundraising impasse.^[1]

Lewis made his major American orchestral debut in November 2008 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and has since appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and Ulster Orchestra. Recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with the Vancouver Symphony, Houston Symphony, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and Memphis Symphony, as well as returns to the Minnesota Orchestra, Alabama Symphony, and RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.

Lewis served as Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra from 2009 to 2014. In 2014 he became Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The same year he also took on a two-year position as assistant conductor for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.^[2]

References

Courtney Lewis to be Assistant Conductor in 2014-15

External links

Video clips

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