Happy Birthday 2 Ya “Henry Lewis” First African American to Conduct Metropolitan Opera
Submitted by admin on Monday, 16 October 2017No Comment
Henry Jay Lewis, born October 16, 1932, was an African-American double-bassist and orchestral conductor. At age 16, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra. He was also the first black to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Musically brilliant and a commanding figure with the baton, Mr. Lewis since the 1960’s had conducted nearly every major American orchestra — the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic — as well as orchestras and opera companies in Milan, London, Paris, Tokyo, Copenhagen and dozens of other music capitals. (via nytimes.com)
