Posted Tuesday (9/16) on the Florida Times-Union’s Jacksonville.com is the first installment of a monthly blog by Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra Music Director Designate Courtney Lewis, who will conduct the season-opening concerts on September 26 and 27. Explaining that he grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of a barrister father and a mother who holds a professorship at Queen’s University, Lewis writes, “Music was the most important part of my childhood. I had a fantastic teacher at high school who opened my ears to the richness of classical music.” Lewis tells of making his podium debut with a student orchestra at Cambridge University; studying conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester; taking his “first job with the Boston [Mass.] Philharmonic”; and founding the Boston chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble. “I’ve just finished five years as associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra…. But September sees the start of two wonderful new chapters: life in Manhattan as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and in your vibrant city as music director of the Jacksonville Symphony…. It’s going to be an exciting journey, and I hope you’ll join us at Jacoby Hall on Sept. 26 and 27 as we begin.”
Posted September 19, 2014
