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Henry Lewis

1932–1996

United States

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Biography

Henry Jay Lewis (October 16, 1932 – January 26, 1996) was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor whose career extended over four decades. A child prodigy, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and, later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the United States.

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Biography text · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

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