WaPo: J. Reilly Lewis, organist, choral director and Bach authority, dies at 71

[Frank Forman]

A fine gentleman indeed. He will be missed. Thanks to Sarah for this. I
did not know that he studied under Helmut Walcha, the greatest of all
organists. Walcha did play Franck, though he never recorded any of his
music. My standard for Franck is the recordings of Anthony Newman, a
baroque specialist.

J. Reilly Lewis, organist, choral director and Bach authority, dies at 71
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/j-reilly-lewis-organist-choral-director-and-bach-authority-dies-at-71/2016/06/11/aed43642-2fdd-11e6-b5db-e9bc84a2c8e4_story.html
By Matt Schudel

J. Reilly Lewis, an organist and conductor who founded the
Washington Bach Consort and spent three decades as the music
director of the Cathedral Choral Society, becoming one of the most
prominent figures in Washington's classical music circles, died June
9 at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 71.

The cause was sudden cardiac arrest, said Margaret Shannon, a
spokeswoman for the choral society.

Much of Dr. Lewis's career revolved around two great edifices:
Washington National Cathedral and the music of Johann Sebastian
Bach. He first performed at the cathedral when he was 8, as a member
of the junior boys choir. He became music director of the Cathedral
Choral Society, a 145-voice choir that rehearses and often performs
at the cathedral, in 1985. He was scheduled to lead a singalong
performance at the cathedral on Sunday.

Dr. Lewis became so popular among D.C.-area music aficionados that
he was featured on a bobblehead doll.

"Not only was he a fantastic musician, he was always this magnetic,
charismatic personality," Marc Eisenberg, executive director of the
Washington Bach Consort, said Saturday in an interview. "He was
absolutely a musical genius. There isn't another Reilly Lewis
walking around."

After becoming enchanted with Bach's music at age 12, Dr. Lewis went
on to become a virtuoso organist and a leading interpreter of the
complex music of the 18th-century German composer.

In the 1970s, Dr. Lewis and several friends began meeting in the
basement of his mother's house in Arlington to play the music of
Bach. As the informal group began to draw a following, Dr. Lewis
formally launched the Washington Bach Consort in 1977.

In time it came to be recognized as one of the country's premier
baroque-music ensembles, with an emphasis on historically authentic
performances on instruments from Bach's era.

The ensemble presented all of Bach's more than 200 cantatas, as well
as works by other baroque composers, went on three international
tours and released several recordings.

"Over the last two decades," Washington Post contributor Cecelia
Porter wrote in 1998, "conductor J. Reilly Lewis has raised this
group to a world-class ensemble even compared with the finest groups
in Bach's native land."

Dr. Lewis, who was the Bach Consort's artistic director until his
death, often conducted from the harpsichord and performed on organ
at the group's concerts, including free monthly performances at the
Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington.

With the Cathedral Choral Society, Dr. Lewis molded a group of
volunteer singers into a versatile vocal unit, performing not just
classical masterpieces but also Christmas music and new
compositions. He occasionally led the group in collaborations with
the National Symphony Orchestra. In April, he conducted the rousing
music of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" at the Kennedy Center in a
Washington Ballet production.

Dr. Lewis was known for his deft touch at bringing out the best in
his singers without belitting them if they fell short of his
expectations.

"In my 22 years, I never remember him embarrassing anyone
personally," Kathy Welling, a member of the alto section, said
Saturday. "That just would not be Reilly. It was always about the
integrity of the music."

Dr. Lewis's gentle manner was captured in a 2011 Washington Post
article as his singers struggled to learn a new piece of music.

"Diction. Pacing. Rhythm," he said. "Bring that melody out. Tenors
and bass, stand. Sopranos, let's keep this a covered veil....
You've got to anticipate. A little more exuberance. A little more
bounce to the word 'sing.' That's good. Don't get louder....
Let's do it again until you learn to love it."

John Reilly Lewis was born Sept. 15, 1944, at Mare Island, Calif.,
where his father was stationed as a naval officer. The family
settled in Arlington, and Dr. Lewis was drawn to music from an early
age.

After attending a boarding school in Peekskill, N.Y., he graduated
in 1967 from Oberlin College in Ohio. He then attended the Juilliard
School in New York, receiving a master's degree in 1969 and a
doctorate in musical performance in 1977.

In 1969 and 1970, he studied in Germany with organist Helmut Wacha
on a Fulbright scholarship. He spent the summer of 1975 studying in
France with the renowned music teacher Nadia Boulanger.

From 1972 until his death, Dr. Lewis was the organist and
choirmaster at Clarendon United Methodist Church in Arlington.

"He very much viewed himself as a church musician, as Bach did,"
said Todd Fickley, his musical assistant at both the Cathedral
Choral Society and the Washington Bach Consort.

An early marriage ended in divorce, as well as his second marriage,
to Kaaren Lynn Ray. Survivors include his wife of 18 years, Beth Van
Wagoner Lewis of Arlington; a daughter from his second marriage,
Lauren Currie Lewis of New York; and a grandson.

In 2011, as a concert approached for the Cathedral Choral Society,
Dr. Lewis was helping his singers master an unfamiliar work.

"Once more from the beginning," he said. "Put your music down and
take a chance. Pounce on it! ... Let's have the altos. Sopranos,
don't let them blow you down. Now, second sopranos. First altos. You
got it! C-sharp. See, it's a piece of cake."