Peter Lewis is a San Francisco-based, yet internationally active, composer of modern classical music.  His music has been commissioned and/or performed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Conspirare; the Orion, Alexander, and Ciompi String Quartets; the Raphael, Robert Schumann, and Bakken Trios;  the Dorian Wind Quintet, City Winds, members of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Chamber Symphony of Princeton, Seattle's Intiman Theater, and many distinguished soloists and conductors including Kent Nagano, Alan Gilbert, Kees Hülsmann, Robert Hughes, Laurent Pillot, Stephanie Friedman, William Winant, and David Tanenbaum. His music has been performed throughout North America, Europe, and Japan, and has been broadcasted over National Public Radio in the United States, the BBC in England, World Broadcasts, and various other stations and programs throughout the world.
His major compositions include Pacific Triptych (for orchestra), two violin concertos, two cello concertos, Guitar Concerto, Where The Heart Is Pure (for mezzo soprano and chamber orchestra), two string quartets (Night Lights and River Shining Through), Beaming Contrasts (for guitar and string quartet), Rhapsodic Images (piano trio), Serenade for Winds (woodwind quintet), Through The Mountain (cello and piano), A Whistler’s Dream(flute and piano), as well as other compositions for orchestra, various chamber ensembles, and solo instruments.
New Albion and Lapis Island Records have produced five CDs devoted to his music. They are Beaming Contrasts(1993), Where the Heart Is Pure (1996), Three Suites for Guitar (2003), Atlantic Crossing/Rhapsodic Images(2004), and Riving Shining Through (2007).
Two new recording projects are on the way. One will be vocal and instrumental and the other will be all instrumental. As usual, exceptional singers and musicians will be featured. Additional information and performances of existing compositions are listed on theWorks page under their titles, when known.
Peter Scott Lewis was born on August 31, 1953, in San Rafael, California, and grew up in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington State. A graduate of the Yale School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he studied composition with Andrew Imbrie, Jacob Druckman , Nicholas Maw, and Morton Subotnick; studied guitar with Alirio Diaz  and Carlos Barbosa-Lima; and conducting with Arthur Weisberg. He has taught at the University of Washington and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, even though he currently does not hold a teaching position. In addition, he has completed composer residencies at Yaddo Corporation, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Foundation, and has been composer-in-residence at Seattle’s Intiman Theater, Festival for New American Music, SFMOMA, among others. He has also performed as a classical and jazz guitarist, clarinetist, and conductor. His music is published by Theodore Presser.
Web: http://www.lapisisland.com/bio.html (2016)