KWAME A LEWIS, LRSMKwame 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".
