Jacob Tews

Jacob Tews is Assistant Professor of Strings and Orchestra at Christopher Newport University in Newport News VA. He has served previously as an educator at Wartburg College, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale, and the University of Minnesota. He earned a D.M.A. in viola performance, with a secondary emphasis in music theory, from the University of Minnesota.

As a soloist, Tews regularly performs recitals mixing standard and new repertoire. His present chamber music focus is on his contemporary music duo with violinist Erik Rohde, sonic apricity (sonicapricity.com); they regularly collaborate with living composers, work which has included a successful guest artist residency with the Alba Composition Program in Alba, Italy in 2019. Their recording of Elliott Miles McKinley’s String Quartet No. 8, written for the duo and their colleagues at Indiana State University, was released in 2019, and their debut album as a duo is slated for distribution in the winter of 2022.

As a conductor, Tews has served as Music Director of the Wartburg Community Symphony Orchestra, and as Assistant/Cover Conductor for the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. As a composer, he has had his works played around the world; his major work, a double concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra, was premiered by Kiril Laskarov, Eric Lenz, and the Southern Illinois Music Festival Orchestra in 2018. Upcoming premieres include a series of overtures for the Hampton Roads Philharmonic and a solo violin sonata for Dr. Sophia Han.

When not teaching, rehearsing, performing, or composing music, Tews enjoys spending time outdoors with his family, training for and running marathons, and continuing his pursuit of the perfect cup of coffee. He lives in Hampton VA, with his wife, Leith, and their children.