Professor Andrew Lewis

Professor of Composition

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Contact info

Professor of Composition
Department of Music, Drama and Performance

Email: a.p.lewis@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: 01248 382188

Location: Music Building

Website: www.andrewlewis.org.uk

Andrew Lewis is an award-winning composer and an internationally recognised figure in the field of acousmatic composition. His more recent work includes more music for orchestras and ensembles, but retains a strong interest in the materiality of sound, and the use of technology to realise new kinds of musical ideas. He is especially interested in spatial sound, in the relationship between 'real-world' and 'abstract' sounds, and in the phenomena of aural perception as part of the creative process.

 

(For more information, see 'Overview' below.)

Overview

Andrew Lewis is an award-winning composer and an internationally recognised figure in the field of acousmatic composition. His most recent work includes more music for orchestras and ensembles, but retains a strong interest in the phenomenon of sound as raw material and the use of technology to realise new kinds of musical ideas. He is especially interested in spatial sound, in the relationship between 'real-world' and 'abstract' sounds, and in the phenomena of aural perception as part of the creative process.

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'); KLANG, Montpellier, 2016 ('Fern Hill'); Destellos, Argentina, 2017 ('Skyline') and KLANG, Montpellier, 2018 ('Lebenslieder'). In 2004 he was the recipient of a prestigious 'Euphonie d’Or' at Bourges for one of the ten most significant works of the decade 1995-2004 ('Ascent'), and in the same year his string quartet 'Tempo Reale' was chosen by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for a Wigmore Hall concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of SPNM.

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, Wendy Holdaway, Yoshikazu Iwamoto, Gerald Garcia, Phillip Mead, Xenia Pestova, Carla Rees, Heather Roche and Vivienne Spiteri.

Recent projects include the audiovisial work 'LEXICON' (funded by the Wellcome Trust) which was seen live by more than 1700 people during its UK tour, and 'Fern Hill' for orchestra and electronics, which was commissioned for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for the centenary celebrations of Dylan Thomas, and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. This work won first prize in the KLANG! competition, Montpellier, and was given its French premiere there by the Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie. In 2016 he was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to compose a large scale work for orchestra and electronics featuring the voices of people with dementia and their partners who care for them ('Lebenslieder'). The resulting work was awarded second prize in the KLANG! competition, Montpellier, in 2018. In 2019 'Straatmuziek' for flute, clarinet, piano and electronics was one of only two works chosen to represent Wales at the ISCM World Music Days in Estonia. In 2018 he was one of ten composers from Wales commissioned for the debut concert of the UPROAR Ensemble, and in 2020 completed a new commission them for ensemble and electronics, for a tour in the UK and Europe.

Numerous 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.

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Teaching and Supervision

Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate modules:

  • Sonic Art
  • Music Since 1850
  • The Nineteenth Century Symphony
  • Interactive Sound and Music
  • Composition
  • Acousmatic Composition
  • Composition in Context

I am currently main supervisor for three PhD's in composition and electroacoustic composition:

  • Sara Pinheiro: Acousmatic Foley
  • Hu Yu: Nuo Opera in Acousmatic Music
  • Shen Lin: Chinese Folk Music in Interactive and Acousmatic Music


Recently completed PhD projects in Composition:

  • Katherine Betteridge: Nature and Magic – Rediscovering Connections (2020)
  • Steven Tunnicliffe: Perception and Structure in Electroacoustic Music (2019)
  • Richard Garrett: Generative Music from Fuzzy Logic and Probability (2017)
  • Emmannouil Gregoriadis: An Invitation to Listen: exploring engagement in technologically mediated music (2016)

 

Other

Departmental Responsibilities

  • Head of Department
  • Studio Director

Contact Info

Professor of Composition
Department of Music, Drama and Performance

Email: a.p.lewis@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: 01248 382188

Location: Music Building

Website: www.andrewlewis.org.uk

Andrew Lewis is an award-winning composer and an internationally recognised figure in the field of acousmatic composition. His more recent work includes more music for orchestras and ensembles, but retains a strong interest in the materiality of sound, and the use of technology to realise new kinds of musical ideas. He is especially interested in spatial sound, in the relationship between 'real-world' and 'abstract' sounds, and in the phenomena of aural perception as part of the creative process.

 

(For more information, see 'Overview' below.)

Research areas and keywords

Keywords

  • M Music - acousmatic, electroacoustic, composition, live electronics

Education / academic qualifications

  • 2019 - Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • 1991 - PhD Composition
  • 1991 - PGCE Music in Education
  • 1984 - BMus (Hons)
  • Professional , Member of the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)
  • Professional , Member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM)
  • Professional , Member of the Performing Right Society (PRS)

Research outputs (37)

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Prof. activities and awards (63)

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Accolades (7)

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