Lewis Coenen-Rowe

'Coenen-Rowe has crafted strong vocal lines and evocative
instrumental moods which capture the darkness and bitterness of so much of
the music of the Weimar era, with its experimental intermingling of the
‘popular’ and the ‘classical’'

CLAIRE SEYMOUR, OPERA TODAY

Lewis Coenen-Rowe is a composer and pianist, specialising in opera, vocal music and chamber music. His music is concerned with themes of ecology, memory, time, and the unstable divide between the comic and the serious. He is also an advocate for environmental sustainability in the arts.

Previous works include the operas Collision (2016), performed by Spectra Ensemble at Grimeborn Opera Festival, The Storm (2017), performed by Helios Collective at ENO Lilian Baylis House and runner-up for the Ivan Juritz Prize, and Last Thursday (2018), performed at Collisions Festival, and the vocal works I’m Sorry (2019) and Suddenly. Everything Feels (2021). His work has been described as 'both jazzily popular and rigorously serious … inventive, coherent and often quite tough' (The Stage) and an ‘experimental intermingling of the ‘popular’ and the ‘classical’’ (Opera Today). Most recently, Lewis created his opera, STUMPED, which premiered in Glasgow in 2023 to two completely sold out audiences.

Lewis was invited to discuss STUMPED on BBC Scotland with Michelle MacManus who praised Lewis for his insightful work:

‘Good on you, for a whole variety of reasons, bringing these issues really to light and to the forefront, making them really accessible for people, and bringing opera maybe to folk who wouldn’t even go and see opera… I really hope it does go on tour.’

Lewis studied composition at the University of Oxford with Martyn Harry and Robert Saxton, followed by a PhD at King’s College London, supervised by Silvina Milstein and George Benjamin. He has had workshop experience with Judith Weir, Daniel Kramer, Sally Beamish, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the BBC singers and many more.

Lewis also performs as a pianist and as a spoken word vocalist, and has had writings on his own music published in TEMPO and Textural Practice. Having previously worked as a teaching associate at Glasgow University music department, he now works part time with Creative Carbon Scotland a charity working on the roles of arts and culture for addressing climate change.