Biography & Obituary

MAESTRO LEWIS DALVIT was a Master's Class protégée of Pierre Monteux at the Domaine School in Hancock, Maine (1958-62).  After Monteux’s death, Mr. Dalvit had the honor of conducting Monteux’s Memorial Services for the following two years. Lewis also trained with Willliam Steinberg of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Dr. Richard Lert, American Symphony Orchestra League, Boris Goldovsky, Opera, Thor Johnson, conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra and head of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Jerome Stowell, Chicago Symphony and with Lillian Poenisch, at the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago. He holds an MMEd from VanderCook College of Music (IL)and served as Beloit College (WI) Artist-in-Residence and Music Department Chair.  He has also been a successful concert clarinetist and noted woodwind clinician whose students can be found in principal chairs of professional symphony orchestras throughout the music world.

Maestro Dalvit is known for his achievements in establishing fiscally strong orchestras and thriving educational string programs to support them.  His orchestral development strategies have been recognized as innovative and unique by the US Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Dalvit founded the Beloit/Janesville (WI) Symphony Orchestra; built the Mississippi Symphony from community to regional status with an annual budget approaching $1,000,000; established the Harris Suzuki School of Music in Johnson City, Tennessee where he was conductor of the Johnson City Orchestra and founded the East Tennessee Regional Symphony. 

Maestro Dalvit conducted extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Mexico and Central America; served as assistant conductor of  the Honolulu Symphony and conductor of the Honolulu Touring Orchestra.  His numerous guest conducting engagements included the Pittsburgh Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, American University Symphony at Wolf Trap (Washington, D.C.), Atlanta Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Regina Symphony and at Carnegie Hall, Toscanini’s Symphony of the Air.

As a much sought after conductor of ballet, Mr. Dalvit conducted premier American tours for  USSR defectors Valery and Galina Panov and for superstars Mikhail Baryshnikov and Peter Martins. He worked with leading dancers of the American Ballet Theater and the New York City Ballet including Gelsey Kirkland, Edward Villella, Leslie Brown, Rudolph Nureyev and Natalie Makarova. Appointed by Thalia Mara as the resident conductor for the International Ballet Competition in Jackson Mississippi, Maestro Dalvit was featured in the award-winning film, “To Dance for Gold.”  Many renowned dance companies have performed under Dalvit’s baton including Jose Limon Dance Company, Mississippi Ballet Theatre, (resident conductor), American Ballet Repertory Company, Atlanta Ballet,  Rockford Ballet,  (resident conductor), Jackson (MS) Ballet, London Royal Ballet, Dayton Ballet, First Chamber Dance Co., Susan Pace White Ballet and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

Stellar pop artists he has conducted include Jack Benny, Arthur Fiedler, Henry Mancini, Ella Fitzgerald, John Raitt, Vincent Price, Dinah Shore, PDQ Bach’s Peter Schickle, Chet Atkins, Doc Severinson, Benny Goodman, Dionne Warwick, Helen Reddy, Pearl Bailey  and the entire Sesame Street cast. Among the many concert artists  he has conducted are Lili Kraus, Grant Johannesen, John Browning, Van Cliburn, Gary Graffman, Ferrante and Teicher, Ivan Davis, Claudette Sorel, Gyorgy Sandor,  Ralph Votapek. James Tocco, Roberta Peters, Anna Moffo, Joanna Simon, Maureen Forester, Leontyne Price, Phyllis Curtin, Miriam Burton, Jean Madiera, Mary Costa, Measha Brugergosman, Mai Washio, Ginia Davis, Frieda Massey, Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill, Gary Karr, Carlos Montoya,  Eugene Fodor, Sidney Edwards, John Williams, Carter Brey and Joseph Silverstein.

 Maestro Dalvit and his wife were summer residents of St. Andrews, New Brunswick Canada,  for over thirty years where he was Artistic Director of the St. Andrews Arts Council and Summer School for the Performing Arts which he founded in 1982  in partnership with the New Brunswick Community College/St. Andrews Campus. 

Among his many awards and achievements, Dalvit has twice been elected Chairman of Orchestras for the National Federation of Music Clubs (US); has served on the national board of the Avery Fisher Award Program at Lincoln Center; and has made several award winning orchestral television productions for the National Public Broadcasting System. He received the first Orpheus Achievement Award of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia – the United States’ largest, most prestigious music fraternity – for significant and lasting contributions to the cause of music and has received three awards from the Canadian Government for his outstanding contributions to the Province of New Brunswick. 

In August 2016, Maestro Dalvit was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Belhaven University at the 30th Anniversary Gala Festival Concert in St. Andrews, NB Canada.

Maestro Lewis Dalvit  1925-2024

Obituary

Maestro Lewis Dalvit, renowned conductor and music educator, peacefully passed away on the morning of May 23, 2024, in Johnson City, TN at the age of 98. He was born in Beloit, Wisconsin to Anita and Lewis D. Dalvit Sr., and in his own words told everyone “All I want to do is make beautiful music.” And indeed, that is what he did. Lewis began his music training in elementary school when his father gave him a clarinet he bought from a traveling salesman. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the United States Air Corps as a radio man on the B-17 bombers. And because he was such a talented clarinetist, much to his delight, he was frequently whisked away from field duties to play concerts and dances for the officers in the Air Corps dance bands. 

When he returned home after the War, Lewis formed the very popular Lewis Dalvit Dance Orchestra while pursuing his formal music education at Beloit College (WI) and Chicago’s VanderCook College of Music. He married violinist, Pat Dougan Dalvit who persuaded him to become a symphony conductor because she needed a place for her violin students to play. At first Lewis balked and told Pat that he couldn’t conduct classical music “because it made him cry.” However, Pat persisted and together they formed the Beloit (Janesville) Symphony (WI) with Lewis as conductor (1953-63).  Lewis was accepted into Pierre Monteux’s Domaine School for Conductors in Hancock Maine where he became a masterclass protegee (1958-62). In 1962 he made his Carnegie Hall debut with Toscanini’s Symphony of the Air, and soon after he was appointed the Assistant Conductor of the Honolulu Symphony and director of the touring orchestra.

Maestro Dalvit’s legacy encompasses the establishment of flourishing orchestras and educational music programs that inspired young artists and launched generations of professional careers. His innovative orchestral development strategies have been recognized by the U.S. Congress and the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to founding the Beloit/Janesville Symphony, he built the Mississippi Symphony from community to regional status, and pioneered the first integrated string music program in the Jackson, Mississippi public schools (1966-1989). While conductor of the Johnson City (TN) Symphony Orchestra (1989-2004), he founded the Youth Orchestra and established the Harris Suzuki School of Music. He also founded the East Tennessee Regional Symphony to present children’s concerts and special youth programming. 

Maestro Dalvit guest conducted extensively throughout Europe, Canada, Central America, and the United States and appeared with notable orchestras including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, American University Symphony at Wolf Trap (Washington, D.C.), Atlanta Symphony, Calgary Symphony, and the Regina Symphony. As a much sought after ballet conductor he worked with major stars of the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet and led American tours for Valery and Galina Panov and Mikhail Baryshnikov. As the resident conductor for the International Ballet Competition in Jackson Mississippi, he was featured in the award-winning film, “To Dance for Gold.” 

Lewis conducted many of the leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries including Leontyne Price, Ella Fitzgerald, Van Cliburn, Lili Kraus, John Browning, Roberta Peters, Maureen Forester, PDQ Bach’s Peter Schickle, Jan Peerce, Robert Merrill, Gary Karr, Carlos Montoya, Eugene Fodor, Benny Goodman, Jack Benny, Vincent Price, Doc Severinsen, Helen Reddy, Pearl Bailey and the entire Sesame Street cast. 

In 1972, Lewis and Pat became summer residents of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. Pat fulfilled her dream of living in a log cabin, which she designed on the Bay of Fundy. They collected stones from the beach for the fireplace and cut down cedar logs from their own land for the walls. Pat crafted tables, chests of drawers, and bunk beds from driftwood, and transformed old Cadillac car seats from a local junkyard into reclining armchairs. Over the years, Lewis began to feel strongly that St. Andrews was the perfect environment for aspiring students to come to study the performing arts. In 1982, he founded The St. Andrews Arts Council to provide educational programming and performance opportunities for students from beginner to pre-professional through masterclasses and workshops through the Council’s Summer School for the Performing Arts. 

Lewis Dalvit's remarkable career touched the lives of countless individuals, and his legacy will continue to resonate through the music and the hearts of those he inspired. Lewis is survived by two daughters, Jacqueline Guthrie and Stephanie Dalvit; five grandchildren, Anne, Sean, David, Kristen and Kyle; six great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Jacqueline Dougan Jackson and Joan Dougan Schmidt; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Patricia, infant daughter, Lauren Virginia, his parents, and several beloved golden retrievers.

To honor Lewis contributions can be made in his memory to the St. Andrews Arts Council, a lasting testament to his inspiring legacy for young artists.

You can make a donation via E-Transfer to jan@standrewsartscouncil.org

or  go to: https://standrewsartscouncil.com/lewis/

or via cheque made out to:

The St. Andrews Arts Council                                                                                                                                                   269 Holts Point Road                                                                                                                                                                Bocabec,  NB Canada E5B 3N4