Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Lewis Ingham (he/him) is a composer primarily working within the field of notated acoustic music. Lewis' compositions have been performed across Australia and the USA, with recent highlights including works for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Offspring, Momentum Ensemble (Australian Youth Orchestra), and Hypercube (USA).

Lewis' compositional voice is steeped in a modernist aesthetic with a keenness for exploring instrumental colour and unique instrumental groupings, interweaving solo and ensemble gestures, and creating resonant harmony drawing upon diverse influences from Olivier Messiaen to McCoy Tyner. His recent musical output has focussed on themes of ecology and climate change, often incorporating climate data into the compositional processes of his texturally and timbrally rich compositions; notably in Under the Anthropocene (for mezzo-aoprano + recorder) and Damaged Mirror Image (for large wind ensemble). Lewis has been noted for his sensitivity towards orchestration in works for both large and small ensembles, often utilising instrumental colour and timbre as a key part of his conceptually-driven composing.

Since 2022, Lewis has been engaged in PhD research in composition at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne) under the tutelage of Elliott Gyger. His research explores the ways in which he uses data pertaining to climate change to influence compositional process and design.

As an early-career artist, Lewis has participated in many rewarding local and international composer programs. Jovian Glimpses (mixed quintet) was composed for Ensemble Offspring as part of their 2019 Hatched Academy Program. Concrete, Glass, Shadow (chambe orchestra) was composed for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2019/20 Cybec Young Composer Program. His composing has been further recognised through winning the 2023 Arcadia Winds Composition Prize, and being appointed the Grainger Museum Composer-in-Residence (2018).