Henry Lewis (musician)
Henry Lewis ( born October 16, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, † January 26, 1996 in New York) was an African- American conductor.
Life
Henry Jay Lewis, was born as the son of Henry J. Lewis, an automobile dealer, and Mary Josephine Lewis, a nurse. He began his musical education at the age of five years. He first studied piano and later clarinet and several string instruments. As a teenager, he played in the parish with amateur ensembles and played in the school orchestra. He attended Dorsey High School in Los Angeles. During his time in Junior High School Lewis opted for a career as a professional musician. This was unusual, as there were at this time in the field of classical music hardly colored musicians. Because of his talent as a bassist, he received a scholarship from the University of Southern California. The University, however, Lewis left without a degree.
He began his career as a musician in 1948 as a double bass player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Lewis was the first African-American instrumentalist in an American symphony orchestra. From 1955 to 1956 Lewis was stationed in the armed forces of the United States in Europe, where he first worked as a conductor. He was director of the Stuttgart based in Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra and conducted concerts in Germany and the Netherlands.
In 1957, he returned, after his release from military service, in the United States and founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with whom he undertook a 1963 tour of Europe. 1960 led Lewis as guest conductor Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in some non- subscription concerts on an orchestral tour. In February 1961, he jumped in a conductor Igor Markevitch for the sick. He conducted a program that included the Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op 13 by Antonín Dvořák, as well as arias by Giuseppe Verdi and Ludwig van Beethoven. This concert received positive reviews and marked the musical breakthrough for Lewis. From 1961 to 1965 he was assistant to Zubin Mehta with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
From 1968 to 1976 he was musical director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in Newark. He was the first African- American who led an American symphony orchestra. This orchestra he built from a renowned orchestra, which played over 100 concerts per season and was invited to the most important concert halls in the United States. He undertook international soloists, including Misha poet and Itzhak Perlman. With the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Lewis has also appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
In 1972 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He made his debut with La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini. In 1975, he led the Japanese tour of the Metropolitan Opera. Throughout his career, Lewis has conducted almost all the major American orchestras: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
From 1989 to 1991 he was chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra in Hilversum. In 1991, he headed in a London production of Carmen Jones.
From 1960 to 1979 Lewis was married to the opera singer Marilyn Horne. He died in 1996 after a heart attack.
Audio
- Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le A Prophet ( with Marilyn Horne, Nicolai Gedda, Margherita Rinaldi, Turin 1970 live recording ), re-released with different labels
- Giacomo Meyerbeer: Le A Prophet ( with Marilyn Horne, James McCracken, Renata Scotto, 1976) at CBS