Henry Jay Lewis, February 15, 2026

Описание: Henry Jay Lewis, a musical child prodigy, had a habit of making history by breaking racial barriers, most notably when he was only sixteen when he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra in 1948 as the first African American instrumentalist and then in 1968 when he was chosen as the first African American conductor of the New Jersey Symphony, a major U.S. orchestra.
Today, February 15, 2026, Lyles Station Historic School and Museum recognizes Lewis’s musical leadership.
Lewis began music lessons at the age of five, starting with the piano, clarinet, and various string instruments. With his mother’s encouragement, he performed with amateur orchestras—bear in mind he was still in grade school.
In junior high, he focused on studying the double bass. His talent earned him a scholarship at the University of Southern California. At the age of sixteen, he made history by becoming the youngest and first African American instrumentalist to perform with a major orchestra. He played the double bass for six years before being drafted into the military.
The military recognized his talent, and instead of firing a gun, he continued to perform with his double bass in military orchestras and conducted the Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra in 1955-1956 in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Netherlands. His leadership supported cultural diplomacy initiatives and enhanced European-American relations.
Following his discharge from the Army in 1956, he founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, then in 1961 was appointed assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, bringing him national recognition.
His talent continued to propel him up the musical scale when, in 1968, he was chosen, over more than 150 other candidates, to serve as conductor and musical director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and the first African American to conduct the Metropolitan Opera in 1972.
During his eight years at the Orchestra, he expanded its performance season and appearance venues, taking it to Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
Over the next twenty years, he toured abroad, conducting orchestras in Milan, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Copenhagen, as well as other European venues.
Lewis opened doors for younger African American conductors and was called the “Jackie Robinson of classical music.”
Lewis continued to serve as the musical director of the Opera-Music Theater Institute of New Jersey and the Netherlands Radio Orchestra after being diagnosed with lung cancer. He passed away in 1996 after suffering a heart attack at only sixty-three.