About
Praised for his “brilliant technique” (Chronicle Journal) and “wonderful musical personality” (Winnipeg Free Press), Canadian violinist Gregory Lewis enjoys an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. Since making his debut with Consortium Aurora Borealis at the age of fifteen, Lewis has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, TSM Festival Orchestra, Colburn Academy Virtuosi, and the Strathcona Symphony Orchestra, among others. Named one of CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” at the age of twenty, Lewis received First Prize at the 2017 Canadian National Music Festival and was selected as a winner of the 2023 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank Competition, in addition to top prizes received in the Concours de Musique du Canada, WMC McLellan Competition, and Yale Chamber Music Competition.
In 2022, Lewis had the great privilege of joining the Callisto Quartet. In recent seasons, the Callisto Quartet has received Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Second Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and top prizes in the Bordeaux, Melbourne, and Wigmore Hall competitions. The Callisto Quartet maintains a busy international touring schedule, appearing at notable venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kauffman Center, the Kennedy Center, Fabrica De Arte Cubano, and the Ravinia Festival. With Callisto, Lewis has held residencies and fellowships at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Yale University, Stauffer Center for Strings in Italy, and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. Lewis’s passion for chamber music has led to performances at the Four Seasons, Norfolk, Olympic, Ravinia, and Yellow Barn festivals, as well the Agassiz, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto chamber music festivals. He regularly performs alongside esteemed artists including Ettore Causa, Norman Fischer, Tai Murray, Tara Helen O'Connor, Marcy Rosen, and David Shifrin, as well as members of the Ariel, Brentano, Kronos, Orion, St. Lawrence, and Ysaye string quartets.
In addition to performing the traditional classical canon, Lewis regularly performs, premieres, and records the music of living composers from diverse backgrounds. He can be heard alongside Frank Morelli and the Callisto Quartet on the album "From the Soul," for which Lewis recorded "Meeelaan" by Wynton Marsalis. Lewis has twice commissioned works by Canadian composer Matthew-John Knights, through the support of the Canada Council for the Arts "Research and Creation" grant. Other highlights by living composers include solo and chamber works by John Adams, Juantio Becenti, Reena Esmail, Ching-chu Hu, Nathalie Joachim, David Lang, Jessie Montgomery, Caroline Shaw, Joan Tower, Trevor Weston, Paul Wiancko, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Nina C. Young.
An active orchestral leader, Lewis served as returning Guest Principal Second Violin of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2018-2020. As concertmaster and principal second violin, Lewis has led under the baton of renowned conductors including Ludovic Morlot, Peter Oundjian, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alexander Shelley, and Leonard Slatkin, among others. Lewis is a frequent performer with chamber orchestras across North America. He has toured the Northeastern United States with A Far Cry, Scandinavia with Juilliard415, Southern California with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, and Western Canada with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, in addition to performing with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Ohio and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York City.
Lewis grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he studied with Olga Medvedeva for eleven years. He holds degrees from the University of Manitoba, Yale University, and the Colburn School, where he studied with Oleg Pokhanovski, Chris Anstey, Ani Kavafian, Martin Beaver, and the Brentano Quartet. When not making music, Lewis enjoys reading, playing chess, and cycling. Lewis occasionally tells himself that he likes running and cooking, although neither is particularly true, nor is he very good at either activity. He resides in Ohio with his wife Bethany Hargreaves, a concert violist. Together, they share their love for travel, food, nature, evenings passed alongside friends, and their new Havapoo puppy, Misty.
Lewis performs on the 1768 "Miller" Gennaro Gagliano, on generous loan by the Canada Council for the Arts.
© Gregory Lewis 2024