George Lewis

George Lewis is an American composer, musicologist, and trombonist. He is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music and Area Chair in Composition at Columbia University. He served as a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in 2020-21 and is the Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble. Lewis is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he holds honorary membership in the American Musicological Society. His accolades include the Doris Duke Artist Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. A member of the AACM since 1971, his work is published by Edition Peters and presented by ensembles worldwide.

Lewis's scholarship focuses on experimental music, computer music, and improvisation, examining intersections with race, gender, and decolonization. His influential book, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music, won the American Book Award. He co-edited the bilingual volume Composing While Black and the Oxford Handbook of Critical Improvisation Studies. Lewis's extensive publications also explore technology's role in music. He holds honorary doctorates from numerous prestigious institutions.