Daniel Lewis (conductor)

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title: "Daniel Lewis (conductor)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1925-births", "2017-deaths", "american-conductors-(music)", "american-male-conductors-(music)", "american-expatriates-in-germany", "aspen-music-festival-and-school-faculty", "claremont-graduate-university-alumni", "usc-thornton-school-of-music-faculty", "university-of-california,-san-diego-faculty", "california-state-university,-fullerton-faculty", "new-england-conservatory-faculty", "university-of-music-and-theatre-munich-alumni", "grossmont-high-school-alumni"] description: "American conductor (1925–2017)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lewis_(conductor)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American conductor (1925–2017) ::

Lewis married Oneta Gwendolyn Belsha during World War II. They met while attending Grossmont High School in El Cajon, California. They had six children, fifteen grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.

Lewis enlisted in the US Navy during World War II and served in the Pacific. After the war, he completed his education at San Diego State College. Prior to accepting a position at Fullerton State College, Lewis taught music at Helix High School in La Mesa. Its band won many awards in various competitions under his leadership. In addition, he was the founding music director of the San Diego Civic Youth Orchestra, which rehearsed at the high school and provided an opportunity for very advanced high-school-aged musicians to perform with a group of their peers. He also taught at Grossmont College in El Cajon.

In order to provide a better life for his large family in San Diego, Lewis often worked extra jobs at night. He would perform at night in various orchestras such as Starlight Opera and the San Diego ice show. From time to time he also taught violin to private students. This enabled the family to maintain a nice 2-story home in San Diego with a large yard and plenty of room for six children.

At one time, Lewis was Concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony.

In 1959 Lewis received a Fulbright Scholarship to study music in Munich, Germany, where he and his family lived for about 10 months.

References

References

1. Shade, Christine E.. (April 17, 1995). "The perfect cadence: After 25 years at the podium with the USC Symphony, director Daniel Lewis takes his final bow". USC Public Relations website.
2. "Daniel Lewis". The Rowe Boat: Homepage of Yvonne and Norman Rowe.
3. "About Pasadena Symphony Orchestra". Pasadena Symphony Orchestra MySpace page.

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