Originally an artist with a paintbrush, Shannon Lewis made her most important decision at a young age when she decided to instead pursue an instrument she could not make even the slightest whisper. This decision put Shannon’s life onto a new path, and transformed her into a dedicated musical artist.
Shannon is currently based in London, Ontario and freelances in Southern Ontario. Shannon performs with the London Community Orchestra, and has previously performed with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra, Western University Symphony Orchestra, Western University Wind Ensemble, and Laurentian University Concert Band in Sudbury among others. She has performed solo recitals as well as alongside her colleagues and mentors at Western University's von Kuster Hall, Paul Davenport Theatre, London’s 2018 Dragon Gala, as well as the Living with Lakes Centre, and Glad Tidings Church in Sudbury. She can be heard on Western University Wind Ensemble's recording of John McCabe's Canyons, on their 2016 record Explorations, under the direction of Dr. Colleen Richardson.
An advocate for contemporary music, Shannon is always exploring ways to push the boundaries of the flute, and is committed to bringing new and exciting repertoire to her audiences while on a quest to make music accessible. She has presented premieres of pieces written for her as well as collaborated on multimedia projects through festivals such as Westben Performer Composer Residency, zFestival (USA), Laboratoire de musique contemporaine de Montréal. Recent premieres include Dionicio Aguirre’s Special Meeting of the Muskegon School Board for solo flute (2021), Clark Nichols’ Amoretti (2020), and Xenia St. Charles Gilbert’s No Sweater Needed (2020)
Shannon has a special interest in the integration of music, visuals, and electronics, which led her to her multimedia project, colour. Starting off as an idea for a small art gallery installation, colour grew into an ongoing project of compositions and improvisations integrated with visual art to create multimedia works for flute and electronics based on her exploration and experiences with grapheme-colour synesthesia.
Essential to her growth, and supplementing her formal studies, Shannon has had incredible opportunities to learn from Matthias Ziegler, Eric Lamb, Carla Rees, and Anne La Berge through FluteXpansions Sonic Immersion, Michael Cox and Denis Bluteau at Orford Music Academy, and has performed in masterclasses with Sophie Goury, Karin Aurell, Jennifer Brimson-Cooper, Lisa Nelsen, and Julie Ranti. Shannon holds a Master of Music in Performance and Literature and Artist Diploma from Western University studying flute with Stephen Tam, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) with Specialization in Music from Laurentian University studying with Myriam Valley. Other notable teachers include Kathleen Rudolph, Rachel Gibson, and Elise Leblanc.
Shannon maintains a private flute studio in London, where she uses improvisation, and sound experimentation alongside traditional techniques to teach elements of all levels of study. Previously, Shannon has been invited to teach for the New Horizons Adult Band program at Western University, and given flute clinics at the Northern Ontario Music Festival Honour Band Weekend in Sudbury. Most recently she gave a mini-seminar on DIY electronic music at zFestival 2021, as well as a presentation on synesthesia as a creative tool in music making for FluteXpansions Creativity Intensive in 2022.
When not preparing for her next project or performance, Shannon enjoys painting, photography, record collecting, and cheering on her favourite hockey team, the Montréal Canadiens.
Shannon performs on a Powell flute and a Yamaha piccolo.
Last updated: September 2021