William D. Lewis

William Lewis became Principal Bassoon of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and Austin Opera in 1986. His studied at Ball State University (B.S. and M.M.). His teachers include Homer Pence, Lesley Wilson, and Benjamin Kamins. He was instructor in bassoon at Southwest Texas State University before leaving to teach high school and middle school bands in Elgin, Texas until his retirement in 2015.

Mr. Lewis is an active clinician and private teacher. His former students hold positions in orchestras including Houston Symphony and the Metropolitan Opera. Since 2012 he has been teacher and arranger for Bocal Majority Operation Oboedouble reed camps.

Mr. Lewis has many arrangements for woodwind ensembles, band, and orchestra. His transcriptions of Haydn symphonies for Double Reed Quartet were presented at the International Double Reed Conference in Tokyo 2015.

Mr. Lewis solo performances include von Weber’s Concerto in F and Mozart’s Symfonia Concertante for Winds and Concerto for Bassoon K191 and Haydn’s Symfonia Concertante.

When not bassooning, he enjoys traveling, transcribing music and making sure his cat has not left any “gifts” around the house.