ABOUT

Claire Lewis is a New York City-based symphonic and operatic conductor whose bold musical voice and compelling presence have established her as a distinctive emerging artist of her generation. She has been appointed the Martha R. and Preston A. Peak Conducting Fellow with The Dallas Opera for the 2026–27 season, following her participation in the Hart Institute for Women Conductors. Additional engagements include joining the Aspen Music Festival and School as a 2026 Conducting Fellow and guest conducting the New Amsterdam Symphony and NYC Orchestra Project.

 

At the age of 19, Claire made her conducting debut at Carnegie Hall with the Chamber Orchestra of New York after winning the Respighi Prize in Conducting. Since then, she has conducted orchestras internationally including the Orchestre Métropolitain, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. During her graduate studies, Claire was appointed as the New Haven Symphony Orchestra's Harmony Conducting Fellow and Richmond Symphony's inaugural Conducting Apprentice, and was selected for the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship Mentoring Program. Beyond her work on the podium, Claire is dedicated to music education and community engagement, having co-founded and served as Vice President of the nonprofit San Marcos Youth Strings, where she helped expand access to string education for young musicians in Southern California.

 

Claire earned an Associate Degree in Science and Mathematics at Palomar College as the school's youngest graduate. She then pursued her undergraduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied classical piano with William Wolfram. Claire earned her Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Marin Alsop. Additional conducting mentors include Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, José-Luis Novo, and Ulrich Windfuhr.