Andrew Lewis

Biography

Andrew Lewis studied composition with Jonty Harrison at Birmingham University (UK), and was part of BEAST at its founding in 1982. He worked with BEAST throughout the 80s and early 90s, composing and performing acousmatic music (fixed-medium sound works for loudspeakers). His music is primarily concerned with the materiality of sound, and often uses technology in its realisation and performance. He is especially interested in exploring the latent musicality of everyday sounds as a means of connecting more directly with listeners.

His music first came to prominence through the award of several international prizes, including the EMAS/PRS Prize for 'Storm-Song' (piano and tape) in 1986, which was also featured at the Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam). Subsequent awards include First Prizes at Concours de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, 1997 (Ascent); Concurso Internacional ART’S XXI, Valencia, 2001 ('Cable Bay'); Concurso internacional de música eletroacústica, São Paulo, 2003 (Penmon Point); 'Euphonie d’Or', Bourges, 2004 ('Ascent'), KLANG, Montpellier, 2016 ('Fern Hill'); Destellos, Argentina, 2017 ('Skyline') and KLANG, Montpellier, 2018 ('Lebenslieder').

His instrumental music has been commissioned and performed by numerous prominent artists, including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, l'Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie, the Kreutzer Quartet, Psappha, Ensemble Mise-En, Ensemble Cymru, Duo Contour, UPROAR, Elinor Bennet, Jane Chapman, Richard Craig, Wendy Holdaway, Yoshikazu Iwamoto, Gerald Garcia, Phillip Mead, Darragh Morgan, Xenia Pestova, Carla Rees, Heather Roche and Vivienne Spiteri. His string quartet 'Tempo Reale' was programmed by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of SPNM.

Several recordings are available, including two collections of his works: 'Miroirs obscurs' and 'Au-dèla' (empreintes DIGITALes) as well as 'Schattenklavier' on Shadow Piano (Innova). His instrumental and vocal music is published by Composers Edition, and his acousmatic music by Ymx média, Montréal (electrocd.com). 

He is married with four grown-up daughters, and lives in Bangor, North Wales.