Biography
Eric Alexander Hewitt is an acclaimed saxophonist, conductor, composer, educator, and jazz man. A Boston native, he joined the Boston Conservatory faculty in 2005 as chair of the Woodwind Department and conductor of the Wind Ensemble. He served there in many other capacities as conductor, professor, and musical instigator until the end of 2017. During his time at the Boston Conservatory, Mr. Hewitt was conductor of the Wind Ensemble; the Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta; Boston Conservatory Composers' Orchestra; and contraBAND, Boston Conservatory's Classical Contemporary Music Ensemble; and from 2010 was the Artistic Director of the Conservatory's annual New Music Festival. Duties also included teaching applied saxophone and conducting, orchestral studies, and chamber music.
In addition to teaching at the Conservatory, from 2011 until 2018 Mr Hewitt served as Music Director with the Symphonia at Phillips Exeter Academy and Boston College High School's Jazz Big Band. From 2005 until 2011 he served as Music Director of the Charles River Wind Ensemble. Guest conducting credits include the Fromm concerts at Harvard, Alea III, the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble, the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra, and New Music Brandeis. He has hosted composers such as Nico Muhly, Louis Andriessen, and Gunther Schuller for full, week-long festivals of their works.
As a saxophonist, Hewitt helped found the Yesaroun' Duo in 1999 and the Radnofsky Saxophone Quartet in 2003. He has performed as a soloist or guest saxophonist with the Boston Pops, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the New World Symphony, the Ryles Jazz Orchestra and Frank Vardaros, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has performed with jazz greats Arturo Sandoval, Jon Faddis, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Slide Hampton, and Phil Wilson. Hewitt can be heard on many BMOP/sound recordings and on the Albany, Troy, GM Recordings, Navona, Newport Classics, New Focus, New World, col legno, Tzadik, and Innova labels. Hewitt was a D'Addario performing artist/clinician from 2013-2018. He has presented performances in Ireland and the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Hewitt holds a B.M. in saxophone performance (2001) and an M.M. in conducting (2003), both with a distinction in performance and academic honors, from New England Conservatory (NEC). From NEC, he also received the Chadwick Medal, Schuller Medal, the Tourjeé Alumni Award, and the Cage Award. In 2009, Hewitt was named Outstanding Music Faculty by the Boston Conservatory Student Government Association. He has been the recipient of grants from the Copland, FROMM, and Amphion foundation. Dedicated to the creation of new musical works, he has presented first performances of over 100 works for forces from full orchestra, to wind ensemble, to solo saxophone. After a four-year, live-in apprenticeship under Gunther Schuller, he now resides in Medford, Massachusetts.