Daniel Lewis (d. 2017) was a member of the USC Thornton School of Music faculty from 1970 to 1995.
Trained in his younger years as a violinist, Daniel Lewis spent most of his career as a conductor of orchestral groups of various sizes. His principal collegiate studies were at Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University). He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1959 to study in Munich, Germany, where he and his family lived for approximately ten months while he studied at the Hochschule für Musik. During that time, he also performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony.
After completing his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Lewis finished his formal education at San Diego State College. During that period, he became Concertmaster of the San Diego Orchestra, supporting the six children he and his wife, Oneta Gwendolyn Belsha, raised together. At one time, he also served as Concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony.
During this formative era, Lewis taught music at Helix High School in La Mesa, California, where the band won numerous awards under his leadership. He also taught at Grossmont High School and served as Director of the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra, providing advanced high school musicians with opportunities to perform at a high level. To support his large family, Lewis frequently worked additional evening engagements with ensembles such as Starlight Opera and the San Diego Ice Show, while also maintaining a private teaching studio.
Lewis served as Director of the Pasadena Symphony from 1971 to 1982. Under his leadership, the orchestra became fully professional for the first time, earning critical acclaim and five ASCAP awards for its adventurous programming. During this same period, he also served as Music Director of the Ojai Festival and the Cabrillo Music Festival, and as musical advisor to the Glendale Symphony. He eventually stepped away from these roles following his debut as a violinist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
He joined the University of Southern California School of Music in 1970 as Director of Conducting Studies and conductor of the school’s orchestra. (He was not Head of the USC School of Music, as has been incorrectly stated elsewhere.) He later became the first faculty member to receive the title of University Professor.
His teaching inspired widespread admiration. Principal violist Cynthia Phelps of the New York Philharmonic observed:
“He demands a kind of intensity with his orchestra. With Daniel Lewis, it was an event just to go to rehearsal; he has a genuine love for music and the ability to transfer those feelings in a way that inspires those who are making the sounds.”
Amy Sims, concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony, noted:
“He instills a discipline in his students. You’re either ready or you’re not.”
Lewis himself described his approach by saying, “I’m not trying to create a battle or victory over them. I just want them to live up to what their potential is.”
Los Angeles Times music critic Christine Shade wrote in 1995:
“Lewis’ baton might as well be a magic wand, so deftly does he use it to caress and punctuate the musical line, to turn separate parts into a whole. But it’s not magic that makes the USC Symphony go; it’s talent—talent fueled by Lewis’ coaxing and cajoling, dashed with sternness, mixed with respect.”
In addition to USC, Lewis taught at the New England Conservatory of Music, the University of California, San Diego, California State University, Fullerton, the Conductors’ Institute of New York, the Aspen School of Music, and numerous American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Workshops, as well as with several European ensembles. In 1982, he served with Leonard Bernstein as co-director of the inaugural season of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and remained on its faculty for many subsequent seasons. He retired from USC in 1995.