Hello and welcome! I'm Michael Lewanski, a Georgia-born, Chicago-based conductor, writer, and educator. I advocate for both new and old musics alike. In my work, I seek to maximize interpretative engagement and create deep connections between audiences, musicians, composers, and the music that is part of their culture, society, and history. I also work to foster a critical perspective on the classical music industry’s problems, with the goal of collective, systemic change. I am conductor of Ensemble Dal Niente, Associate Professor of Instrumental Ensembles at the DePaul University School of Music (where I am also Chair of the Performance Studies Department), Artistic Director of Lakeview Orchestra, a frequent guest conductor, and a writer. More detailed and official-sounding information about me is below.

Press quotations:

“The musicians of Ensemble Dal Niente, led by Michael Lewanski, bring meticulous and richly hued artistry to each score.”
- Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone

“Worst Welcoming Statement[:] Conductor and Ear Taxi Festival curatorial director Michael Lewanski managed to nearly single-handedly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory before the new-music festival even opened, with an uber-woke and tortuously academic Curatorial Statement that accused the entire classical music industry of—you guessed it—racism, as well as being ‘among the most imperialist and oppressive fields in contemporary culture.’ Even conservatory buildings and classical venues are racist, says Lewanski, since ‘Schools of music, concert halls, and other musical institutions are located on land stolen from Native people.’”
- Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review

"Lewanski, who is an excellent conductor, maintained a level of structural expertise that once more gave a listener faith in the music."
- Mark Swed, L.A. Times

"The gatherings and vanishings of this reflection on life and dust... were precisely charted by the conductor Michael Lewanski."
- David Allen, New York Times

"The performances... conducted by Michael Lewanski, sounded fresh, vital and committed, the many moving parts synchronized with amazing precision."
- John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

"The work was held together by the remarkably detailed conducting of Michael Lewanski, who pointed out the rhythmic and emotive extremes with clarity and precision."
- Gerard Fischer, Chicago Classical Review

"In his introduction, Lewanski talked about the work’s structure and expressed his deep enthusiasm for the piece, which was palpable in the ensuing string septet performance, the clear highlight of the evening."
- John Lawrence, Chicago Classical Review

"Some had robust sections that evoked a movie soundtrack; some had passages of great tenderness... [one] seemed to give voice to mathematical formulae. The pieces required the orchestra to articulate serpentine rhythms with the utmost precision. A couple pieces had the musicians making up some sounds on the spot... The orchestra, conducted by Michael Lewanski, handled it all with aplomb."
- David Dupont, Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune

Interviews:

On Drew McManus’s Shoptalk (along with Dr. Eric Esparza, DePaul director of choral activities), here.
With Darcy Heinrichs in DePaul Newsline, here.
With composer/writer Jon Fielder for Klang, here.
With Doyle Armbrust here (originally published in Crain's Chicago Business)
With composer/writer Ray Evanoff of Foci Arts, here.

Long-form biography:

Conductor, curator, educator, and writer Michael Lewanski is a champion of new and old musics. He seeks to facilitate engaged connections between audiences, musicians, composers, and the music that is part of their culture, society, and history. His work hopes to be part of collective, systemic change in the classical music industry. Based in Chicago, he is Conductor of Ensemble Dal Niente, Artistic Director of Lakeview Orchestra, and Associate Professor and Chair of the Performance Studies Department at the DePaul University School of Music, where he works to train the next generation of musicians to be thoughtful artistic citizens.

Michael was Curatorial Director of Ear Taxi Festival 2021. He was resident conductor of the 2017 and 2019 SoundSCAPE Festivals in Italy. His guest conducting engagements have been wide-ranging and stylistically diverse, working with organizations such as the the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW Series, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan, Ensamble CEPROMUSIC (Centro de Experimentación y Producción de Música Contemporánea, Mexico City), Composers Conference (Brandeis Univeristy), Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s Grossman Ensemble, the Seattle Modern Orchestra, Lakeview Orchestra, Picosa, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and others. He has led hundreds of world premieres. He was the Conducting Assistant for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2010 to 2014. At the 2012 Darmstadt Summer Courses, Ensemble Dal Niente won the prestigious Kranichstein Music Prize under his direction.

Michael has an extensive discography as both conductor and producer. His recordings appear on Albany Records, Carrier Records, KAIROS recordings, New Amsterdam Records, New Focus Recordings, New World Records, Parlour Tapes+, PARMA Recordings, and others. His discography includes works by George Lewis, Franco Donatoni, Carola Bauckholt, Jeffrey Mumford, Dai Fujikura, Marcos Balter, Anthony Cheung, Igor Santos, Andile Khumalo, Joël Durand, Osnat Netzer, Eliza Brown, Katherine Young, and many others. He has acted as producer for recordings by Ensemble Dal Niente, Spektral Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, and violinist J. Austin Wulliman.

A native of Savannah, Georgia, he made his conducting debut at age 13 with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra. At 16, he was the youngest student ever accepted into the conducting class of the legendary Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. Michael attended Yale University, where his studies included conducting with Lawrence Leighton Smith and piano with Sara Laimon. He was music director of the Yale Bach Society Orchestra and conducted the Yale College Opera Company. His post-Yale education featured conducting study with Cliff Colnot and Dutch new music expert Lucas Vis.

Michael assisted in the organization of There is No Repetition: Mathias Spahlinger at 70 in March 2015. Other festival appearances include soundSCAPE (2017, 2019), June in Buffalo (2016-2017, 2019), the Ear Taxi Festival (2016, 2025), New Music Gathering (Baltimore, 2016), Foro Internacional de Música Nueva in Mexico City (2015, 2018, 2025), the 2013 Ecstatic Music Festival (in which Dal Niente collaborated with the rockband Deerhoof), Bowling Green New Music Festival (2013, 2024), the Northwestern New Music Conference (2014, 2015), Omaha Under the Radar (2015, 2018), and MusicArte festival in Panama (2013, 2015).

Michael is frequent writer on music and other artforms; his pieces have shown up in diverse and sometime unobvious locations, including New Music Box, Cacophony Magazine, WQXR.org, Ensemble Dal Niente's blog, and various program books.

Shorter biography:

Michael was Curatorial Director of Ear Taxi Festival 2021, a festival of 21st century Chicago music. He was resident conductor of the 2017 and 2019 SoundSCAPE Festivals in Italy. His guest conducting engagements have been wide-ranging and stylistically diverse, including work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW Series, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of Turkmenistan, Ensamble CEPROMUSIC (Mexico City), the Seattle Modern Orchestra, and many others. He has led hundreds of world premieres.

Michael has an extensive discography as both conductor and producer. A native of Savannah, Georgia, he studied piano and violin in his youth; he made his conducting debut at age 13, leading his own composition. At 16, he was accepted into the conducting class of the legendary Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He attended Yale University; he subsequently studied with Cliff Colnot and Lucas Vis. He is based in Chicago, and respectfully acknowledges the Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Odawa, Ho-Chunk, Myaaamia, Menominee, Peoria, and Illinois Confederacy among other tribal nations as custodians of the traditional Native land on which he lives and works.

100-word biography:

Conductor, educator, and writer Michael Lewanski is a champion of new and old musics. He seeks to facilitate engaged connections between audiences, musicians, and the music that is part of their culture; and hopes to be part of collective, systemic change in the classical music industry. Based in Chicago, he is conductor of Ensemble Dal Niente, Artistic Director of Lakeview Orchestra, and Associate Professor/Performance Department Chair at the DePaul University School of Music. He is a frequent guest conductor and recording artist. A native of Savannah, Georgia, he began conducting at 13. At 16, he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin. He attended Yale University; he subsequently studied with Cliff Colnot and Lucas Vis.