June 3, 2014
Contact: Carla Rountree
Tel: 703-524-2224
Email: [email protected]
Dr. J. Reilly Lewis receives honorary doctorate
The Washington Bach Consort is thrilled to announce that Dr. J. Reilly Lewis, founder and music director, was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Virginia Theological Seminary. The commencement ceremony took place on May 22, 2014 in Calloway Chapel at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.
Founded in 1823, Virginia Theological Seminary focuses on raising and preparing leaders of the Episcopal Church and is the largest of eleven accredited Episcopal seminaries. VTS offers numerous degree programs in addition to preparing church leaders for ministry.
Dr. Lewis’s career began at an early age in the Episcopal Church as a member of the Washington National Cathedral Junior Boys Choir under Richard Wayne Dirksen, from whom he also received his earliest organ lessons.
Dr. Lewis received his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and both his master’s and doctoral degrees from The Julliard School. He founded the Washington Bach Consort in 1977, which has since evolved into an internationally acclaimed professional ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specializing in the performance of 18th-century music. Dr. Lewis has also served as the music director of the Cathedral Choral Society for the past 29 years and as the organist and choirmaster at Clarendon United Methodist Church for the past 43 years.
-###-
