Biography
Hannah Lewis was born in Watford and started learning the cello at the age of 5. She gained a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with David Smith, and since graduating has developed a busy career as a freelance cellist and teacher.
She has always had a special passion for chamber music and in 2012 she formed the Cygnus Piano Trio with two fellow students at the Academy, Javier Montañana and César Saura. Over the last ten years, the trio has studied with internationally famous performers, competed successfully in various competitions, and performed widely in Europe and the UK. From 2017 to 2020 they participated in the specialised chamber music courses run by the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona (Italy), working closely with members of the Quartetto di Cremona. They have attended many other chamber music courses and masterclasses in the UK and Europe, and have been coached by world renowned musicians such as Pascal Devoyon, Raphael Wallfisch, Krzyzstof Smietana and Sergei Bressler. In 2018 and 2019 the trio was invited to take part in a series of masterclasses with Alfred Brendel in Pistoia (Italy).
The Cygnus trio has performed in numerous festivals and concert series, including the Santander International Festival, the Panticosa International Festival (as resident ensemble in 2017), the Archipelago series at the Auditorium Lo Squero in Venice, and the Omaggio a Cremona series at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona. In 2018, they were invited to join as members the Dimore del Quartetto organisation, providing them with an opportunity to perform all over Italy. The trio has also received received prizes in various international competitions including the Anton Garcia Abril chamber music competition and the Ecoparque de Trasmiera competition. In the summer of 2022 they were awarded the Recording Prize at the Filippo Nicosia Award, in Italy, and in 2023 will be recording their first commercial CD for Da Vinci Records with an accompanying programme of concerts.
In addition to her work with the trio, Hannah has performed extensively at recitals and concerts in many London venues – including four solo recitals at St James Piccadilly, the opening night of the new St James Theatre in Victoria, a complete cycle of the Beethoven string quartets at St Stephen’s Kensington and a tour of ‘The Lost Words’ project, which is set to Robert Macfarlane’s poetry to music with choir and chamber group.
