Courtney Lewis Conductor

Born in Belfast, Courtney Lewis studied composition with Robin Holloway at Cambridge University and clarinet with Dame Thea King. After gaining a Master's degree at Cambridge, he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has been Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for eight seasons. Deeply committed to new music, he has worked with many composers.

In 2016, he assisted Thomas Adès at the Salzburg Festival with his opera The Exterminating Angel. In Jacksonville, recent and upcoming commissions include works by Carlos Simon, Sean Shepherd, Tarik O'Regan, Courtney Bryan and Conrad Tao. In recent seasons, he has made debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Manchester Hallé Orchestra, the Nürnberger Symphoniker, the San Diego Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, the Aspen Music Festival and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has conducted the Australian Youth Orchestra on tour and Minnesota Opera in its revival production, and recorded Kevin Puts' Silent Night for Naxos.

Courtney Lewis's previous seasons with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra have featured a wide repertoire, including works by Mahler and Bruckner, a Sibelius symphony cycle, Thomas Adès's Asyla, Ligeti's Piano Concerto and Timo Andres's The Blind Banister. He has also collaborated with violinists Anthony Marwood and James Ehnes, pianists Lang Lang, Inon Barnatan and Jonathan Biss, and soprano Renée Fleming. Courtney Lewis has presented symphonic productions of Hansel and Gretel in 2017, excerpts from Twilight of the Gods with Christine Brewer and Jay Hunter Morris in 2018, Don Giovanni in 2019 and La Bohème in 2022. This season, he conducts Handel's Messiah, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and Carmen in Jacksonville.

At the Opéra national de Paris: The Dante Project, 2023