Clovice A. Lewis, Jr.
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In addition to his experience as a composer and cellist, Clovice has also enjoyed a dual, and extensive career as a technologist and serial entrepreneur. He started his first consulting business, Technology Media Enterprises (TME) in March of 1984. Based in the Silicon Valley, TME was at the forefront of desktop publishing, computer graphics, 3D modeling and animation, digital audio, computer based training, high level object oriented programming, and multimedia productions. Since then, Clovice has created multiple businesses. Click here to go to the TME Consulting website that describes Clovice's technical career in detail.
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Clovice A. Lewis, Jr., who has composed numerous works ranging from ensemble to electronic and orchestral pieces, graduated from the prestigious College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He began teaching as a freshman at the school, and upon completion of his studies, accepted a position as a Lecturer in 1978. He was shortly thereafter promoted to Associate Professor and taught until 1985. He was, at the time, one of the youngest professors in the UC system (at 22) to hold such a position. His duties included generation of funding for continued support from private and public sources of the Electronic Music Studio. Lewis served as Faculty Head and Administrator of the studio from 1980 to 1984.
Lewis has studied composition with Peter Fricker, Anthonus Lolov, Thea Musgrave, Gordon Crosse, Edward Applebaum, and Stanley Krebs. His cello teachers included such renowned cellists as Peter Preston, Peter Rejto, and Geoffrey Rutkowski. His pioneering work in the field of electronic music and composition led him to be noted as the most outstanding composer produced by the College of Creative Studies in the November 1985 issue of OMNI magazine in an article entitled "How To Build A Creative Scientist", which highlighted the achievements of the school and its graduates. Lewis was the recipient of a University of California Undergraduate Fellowship from UCSB in 1975 to reproduce the scores and parts, as well as to attend the premiere performance of his first symphony, which was completed when he was 17 years old entitled "Portraits of the Gulfcoast". The piece was performed by the Gulfcoast Symphony Orchestra under the direction of James Shannon as part of their Bicentennial salute to American Composers. During the past 30 years, the music Lewis has composed has been performed by numerous orchestras in California, including a Concerto for Trumpets and Orchestra, a Poem for Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra, a Bassoon Concerto (with Rufus Olivier) and a Multi-Media Cantata for Soprano Voice. He is the recipient of numerous awards for composition, including the 1985 Cabrillo Music Festival award for outstanding composition for a string quartet composed in 1976. In June of 1993, his Concerto for Violoncello and Computer was hailed as a breakthrough piece when it was performed for the Old First Church series of concerts which showcases exceptional Northern California composers. In addition to being a composer and cellist, Clovice is also a published author. Click here to view the books authored by Lewis that are available for purchase on Amazon. In 2017, Clovice Lewis embarked on a compositional journey that would tell the stories of the lives of black performers at a segregated nightclub in Harlem during the 1920s. This musical, “Harlem Voices,” was completed in 2019 while Lewis pursued a master’s degree in divinity. Following his ordination as a Unitarian Universalist minister in 2021, he composed the sequel to “Harlem Voices,” titled “Harlem Voices: Revisited.” This sequel, with ninety percent of its composition done in eight weeks, is a testament to Lewis’s vast creative abilities; as he wrote the books, music and lyrics, and orchestrations for both musicals. The two “Harlem Voices” musicals form a trilogy that spans over a hundred years of history, offering a unique perspective from the black American community. |
In collaboration with the Middletown Art Center in Middletown (MAC), CA, Clovice Lewis is set to produce a series of 5 live performance revues. These performances will showcase the music and dialogue from the “Harlem Voices” and “Harlem Voices: Revisited” musicals, bringing the essence of these compositions to life. The performances, made possible by a California Humanities “Humanities for All Project Grant” $25 thousand matching grant award, will be held at the MAC in Middletown, the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake, and the Soper-Reese Theater in Lakeport in 2024 and 2025.
This highly sought-after and prestigious award recognizes the work the MAC does in the community and the sweeping artistic and social justice vision Lewis brings to his works. In addition to the music for each performance, Lewis will facilitate critical discussions about race relations in the United States. “Harlem Voices” and “Harlem Voices: Revisited” are now available in paperback form on Amazon. The books feature QR codes embedded in the content so the reader can listen to recordings of the music as they read along. Look for those books and the final musical of the trilogy, “Harlem Voices: Legacy”, to be published by the end of 2025. Click here for a complete List of Compositions by Clovice. The list is organized into various broad categories, from pieces for individual solo instruments to large orchestral, jazz, and computer music. Lewis has composed music for a wide variety of genres, but could not find a publisher to take on such an eclectic catalog. So, he has decided to make his music available via the Internet. |
