All-State Orchestra
Festival Manager
Meagan Thorup, Mountain Ridge High School
2021 All-State Orchestra Director Gary Lewis is the Director of Orchestral Studies and the Bob and Judy Charles Professor of Conducting in the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he conducts the University Symphony Orchestra and oversees the entire orchestra program. He is also Music Director and Conductor of the Midland-Odessa (TX) Symphony Orchestra.
At CU-Boulder Mr. Lewis also leads the graduate program in orchestral conducting including both the masters and doctoral level. His former students are currently enjoying success as conductors with professional orchestras and opera companies, university and public school ensembles, and youth orchestras.
Prior to his appointment at Colorado, Lewis served on the faculties of Texas Tech University, The Ohio State University, The University of Michigan, and Abilene Christian University. He is equally at home with professional, university, and youth ensembles. He is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic and has appeared with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Sichuan Philharmonic Orchestra (Chengdu, China), the Colorado Music Festival, Boulder Ballet, Midland Ballet Theater, Ballet Lubbock, the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, the New Symphony Orchestra (Sofia, Bulgaria), and the Western Plains Opera Theater. His work with summer music festivals has also been noteworthy including the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Pine Mountain Music Festival (opera and symphonic) and Rocky Ridge Music Center.
As a strong advocate of music education, Mr. Lewis has presented many in-service workshops for public school educators, as well as numerous presentations at state and regional music education association conferences. In addition, he has conducted All-State Orchestras and Bands in many states along with the ASTA National Honor Orchestra and the Honor Orchestra of America. In 2010 Mr. Lewis became the founding Artistic Director of the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestras and continues to serve as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra..
Mr. Lewis is also a strong proponent of new music. He has been instrumental in the development and production of contemporary music festivals and his interest in new music has led him to collaborations with composers such as Dan Kellogg, Carter Pann, George Crumb, William Bolcom, John Harbison, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty, Stephen Paulus, and many others.
Mr. Lewis is a Yamaha Master Educator.