Kwame A. Lewis, Music Director Emeritus

KWAME A LEWIS, LRSM

Kwame Lewis has been playing the clarinet for nearly eighteen years. He joined the Queens Royal College Scout Band in 1991 and was given a clarinet by then Scoutmaster, Laurence McDowall. Upon his relocation to Boston, he furthered his clarinet studies, firstly with Julie Vreman who graduated with her Masters in clarinet performance from Boston University, and now currently with well renowned clarinetist Thomas Hill, the principal of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a result, Kwame has attained the Licentiate of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) Diploma which is the second of three professional level examinations.

Kwame has also been successful in the Trinidad and Tobago Music Festival where he placed first in the 15-19 age group in 1997 and 1999. In the 2002 edition, he led the Q.R.C. Scout Band to win the Hope-Ross Cup for best instrumental ensemble and was a member of the clarinet trio that won the Michelle Khan Memorial Trophy for best Chamber Music Trio.

Kwame was also the musical director of the Q.R.C. Scout Band and a long standing member of the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) where he was principal clarinetist and, for a brief period in 2003, interim conductor. He also has been conductor of the NYO Concert Band for a number of years as part of their summer workshop. Kwame participated in the International Music Camp in North Dakota in July 2001 where he played in the Concert and Symphony Orchestras.

In Boston, Kwame is a first clarinetist in the Charles River Wind Ensemble, a community symphonic band, and has played with various groups in the Boston area including Calliope, a collaboration of a chorale and orchestra, the Boston Repertory Orchestra, a group that comes together to sight read full orchestral works, the Harvard Summer Orchestra and Concert Band, Dorchester Symphony Orchestra and Newton Symphony Orchestra. Kwame has also performed in the Gilbert & Sullivan productions "The Yeomen of the Guard" and "H.M.S Pinaforte" in 2007 and 2008 respectively in Montreal, Quebec and “Iolanthe” in 2009 with the MIT G&S Players. He has also performed with the Boston Operatic Society production of Mozart's "Magic Flute".

Abe Dewing, Founder & Violin

ABE DEWING

Abe began playing the violin at age eight and was a member of the All Newton Elementary String Orchestra. In high school, he traveled on tours of Great Britain, Austria, Hungary and Yugoslavia as a member of the Newton North High School and Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. He also played in the MMEA Northeastern District and All-State Orchestras as a senior culminating with a performance in Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA. In the summer of 1987, he read Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony & Beethoven's Leonore Overture No.3 in the Tanglewood Festival Young Artists Program's conducted by Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.

Abe earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Rochester where he was a member of University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He studied violin performance with Oliver Steiner at the Eastman School of Music.

Abe has performed as a member and soloist with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra since 1994. He is currently a Board member and handles the Marketing and Publicity for the organization. In 2002, Abe came home to play in the Newton Symphony Orchestra. He has played in performances at  Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He is charter member of the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra and founded the Fusion String Ensemble in 2007. Chamber music has been a major focus of Abe as he chaired the Cambridge Symphony Chamber Players from 2002-2010.

Abe has also appeared as a guest violinist for a local rock artist Lauren Bateman.

As an actor and producer, Abe has two full-length films to his credit. One feature gained a limited theatrical run in the summer of 2010 and premiered on cable television in April 2011. Both are in wide distribution on DVD.

By day, Abe is an Digital Executive at Boston Herald Media where he creates concepts and builds advertising campaigns around it. In his free time, Abe loves being with his son, Kyle and his wife, Ashley. His other hobbies include cooking, basketball and keeping up in a softball league.