“An erudite musician, … [Lewis] impresses.”
— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
“Lewis is not only a first-class conductor, but was an engaging host for the proceedings, offering musical insights and anecdotes that were as entertaining as they were informative.”
— Dennis Polkow, New City
“The inspiring conductor, scholar, and educator.”
— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
Recently profiled in the Chicago Tribune as the classical musician to watch, Andrew Lewis is Artistic Director of Bella Voce; Music Director of the Elgin Master Chorale (formerly the Elgin Choral Union); founder and Artistic Director of The Janus Ensemble, a professional chamber orchestra specializing in Baroque and new music; Choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston; and a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also Artistic Director Emeritus of the Lutheran Choir of Chicago and a former member of the conducting faculty at DePaul University. Mr. Lewis has been a guest lecturer at Concordia University Chicago, in the nationally recognized Lectures in Church Music series, and at Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston; he has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lewis’s performances have been heard live on WFMT 98.7.
Mr. Lewis attended Northwestern University, receiving his Bachelor of Music degree in music theory. While still a student at Northwestern, he received a scholarship to observe the rehearsals of Daniel Barenboim and Asher Fisch at the Staatsoper-Unter-den-Linden, Berlin. After college he moved to California, worked as a church musician, and was an original member of the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale of San Francisco, having sung with Baroque specialists Nicholas McGegan and John Butt. He then attended the Eastman School of Music to study choral and orchestral conducting with William Weinert and orchestral conducting with David Effron, receiving his Master of Music degree in 1998.
He has also studied with conductors Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw, Robert Spano, James Paul, Gustav Meier, Stephen Cleobury, Duain Wolfe, and Dale Warland in the United States and Michel Tapachnik in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Mr. Lewis is married to singer and conductor Kirsten Hedegaard. He and Kirsten have three young boys, all of whom sing with their dad at St. Luke’s.