The Basics

Press Quotes about Lewis

‘An improvisational urban jazz feel permeated the third movement, with some exquisite saxophone playing from Lewis Banks’

- The Edinburgh Music Review (Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Andrew Manze)

‘the SCO were on magnificent, particularly sonorous form, with guest saxophonist Lewis Banks contributing some especially slinky, slippery solos.

-The Scotsman (Scottish Chamber Orchestra & Andrew Manze)

‘the obbligato saxophone of Lewis Banks was most expressive and apposite. The composer has said that, for him, the saxophone represents the wordless voice of Mary, and the superb playing of Mr Banks was a marvellously unifying element in the score…Lewis Banks plays with a fluency and style that marks him out as very much one to watch’

- The Edinburgh Music Review (Edinburgh Royal Choral Union & Michael Bawtree/Richard Blackford

‘a brilliantly gutsy sax solo from Lewis Banks’

— The Scotsman (SCO & James MacMillan)

‘a knockout solo saxophone that stayed on just the right side of being sultry’

— The Arts Desk (SCO & Francois Leleux)

‘stunningly - played by Lewis Banks...the saxophonist’s virtuosity and blinding characterisation of elemental sounds, was deeply - impressive’

— The Herald (solo recital)

‘A Drowned Sorrow (in the Dark Bathroom), which was dominated by the bluesy alto sax of Capperauld’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland associate Lewis Banks’

— VoxCarnyx (SCO & James MacMillan)

‘gorgeously sultry solos from saxophonist Lewis Banks’

— The Scotsman (SCO & Joseph Swenson)

‘evocative saxophone’

— bachtrack (RSNO & Christian Reif)

‘The Old Castle had hints of Italianate romantic nostalgia – illustrated by a stunning solo on the alto saxophone by Lewis Banks’

- Seen and Heard International (RSNO & Christian Reif)

‘Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite No 1…notable for being the first orchestral score to use one of those new-fangled saxophone things in 1872, played here by young Scottish virtuoso Lewis Banks’

- VoxCarnyx (SCO & Francois Leleux)

‘the second melodic theme – beautifully played here by Lewis Banks – which almost prefigures the post-Second World War “cool school” of West Coast jazz’

- The Herald (RSNO & John Wilson)



Ensembles Lewis works with

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

BBC Philharmonic

Scottish Opera

Prizes/Awards

Sussex Prize for Woodwind - Royal Overseas League Music Competition (2023)

Worshipful Company of Musicians Postgraduate Award

Worshipful Company of Musicians Masie Lewis Award

PDGYA Award, Making Music UK

ABRSM Scholar

Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award

Help Musicians UK Fleming Award

Bromsgrove International Musicians Competition Runner Up (2018)

Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition Wind Finalist (2019, 2021, 2023)

Principals Prize for Excellence, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2018)

RSNO Concerto Prize

Education

Bmus with Honours of the 1st Class, with 100% final recital degree mark

MMus in Performance, with 100% final recital degree mark

Lewis is a Scottish saxophonist praised by The Herald for his ‘virtuosity and blinding characterisation’. Winner of the Sussex prize, the Royal Overseas League Music Competition in London, Lewis has gained a reputation as an exciting soloist who thrives on traversing genre borders.

As a soloist, Lewis recently gave the world premiere of the soprano saxophone concerto Rewired by Scottish composer Jay Capperauld with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 2025, and has recently premiered new concerti by composers Electra Perivolaris and Courtney Bryan with the Glasgow Barons. Other solo appearances include performances of John Williams’ Escapades (2024) and Jacques Ibert’s Concertino da Camera (2016), both with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the UK premiere of the orchestral arrangement of Santiago Baez’s L’Arlesienne Fantasy Concerto in 2018.

As an orchestral saxophonist, Lewis is a frequent guest with leading ensembles including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and Hebrides Ensemble.

Lewis serves as a saxophone lecturer at the University of Aberdeen and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he is also Co-Director of the annual Saxophone Summer School. Additionally, he has delivered guest masterclasses and examined at institutions including Chetham’s School of Music, the Royal Northern College of Music and St Mary’s Music School.

Lewis was previously educated at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he won most of the major performance prizes, achieved the highest attainable final examination marks in both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and was awarded the Principal’s Prize for Excellence.

Alongside his musical career, Lewis is currently studying for a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) at the University of Glasgow