Biography
Harpsichordist
Christopher D. Lewis
(Drew Kelly, Photography)
Dr Christopher D. Lewis BMus MM FHEA FRSA HonFGMS
Described by Gramophone Magazine as "pioneering", Christopher D. Lewis is a contemporary harpsichordist and a Naxos Records recording artist. His fascination with the instrument began at a young age, and since then he has made it his mission to bring the modern harpsichord and the music written for it to a global audience, intent on sharing its beauty and versatility far and wide. Over the past century composers and harpsichordists alike have fought to bring the instrument back to modern music, and Christopher is at the forefront of this movement, working tirelessly to ensure that audiences can once again hear and enjoy the harpsichord in modern music. Christopher is an internationally known authority on harpsichord in both classical contemporary music and in popular culture.
He completed a jointly sponsored Arts and Humanities Research Council and National Trust PhD in 2017, and his research was focused on the modern British harpsichord. Often engaged to speak on modern harpsichord music and its uses, as well as the performers that revived the instrument through the 20th century and into the 21st, his studies are a natural extension of a lifelong passion for introducing people to the contemporary harpsichord for the first time. He has released four full-length albums that feature both solo and orchestral arrangements. His most recent recording was a collection of works for the harpsichord composed by Vincent Persichetti, which was released in summer 2017.
Christopher was born in Wales and grew up in Rhiwbina, Cardiff but relocated to Canada in 2005 to study under Luc Beauséjour and Hank Knox at McGill University in Montréal. Here he earned a Bachelor of Music degree before next completing his Masters of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Corey Jamason. Both of these degrees had a special focus on modern music for the harpsichord. He performs internationally, and has toured all over the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, and the South Pacific.
In 2018 he joined the University of Chester as a Lecturer in Music and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and an Honorary Fellow of The Guild of Musicians and Singers. When he isn’t studying, practicing or enlightening the world to the timeless grace of the harpsichord, Christopher enjoys aviation, British sitcoms, and is one of only a handful of people on the planet to have piloted a winged sports submarine. Read an article from Early Music Today Magazine [here] on his recent research project.