Michael<\/a>, from Newtonmore, has garnered a huge number of fans for a voice and performance style that drawn comparison with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Michael Bubl\u00e9.<\/p>\nHe recently travelled more than 4000 miles to Saskatchewan to star in Croon, a celebration of the Great American Songbook, performing with the orchestra as part of the TD Sask Jazz Festival.<\/p>\n
The remarkable story began almost two years ago when Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra chief executive Mark Turner stumbled across one of Michael\u2019s performances while scrolling through TikTok.<\/p>\n
Introducing Michael to the audience, Turner shared how the chance discovery ultimately led to the young Highland singer making his Canadian debut: \u201cI was doom-scrolling on TikTok when this video of this kid singing Paper Moon came up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just blown away.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re about to hear Michael\u2019s singing, which is unbelievable. He\u2019s only 18, he\u2019s only been singing for a couple of years, and he has the musical poise and timing of singers of long gone by.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a great pleasure in my career to connect our orchestra with great young artists, and I think Michael Lewis is one of the greatest finds yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s performance concluded with a standing ovation from the Canadian audience, capping an extraordinary international debut for the young Scottish singer.<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s manager Jo de Sylva said: \u201cFor the CEO of a major symphony orchestra to discover Michael through TikTok and then invite him to perform in Canada is an incredible story in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo receive a standing ovation on his first international orchestral performance at just 18 years old is something very few young artists experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael is a genuinely young singer performing the Great American Songbook with the confidence and polish of artists several decades older. He has an instinctive understanding of these songs that simply can\u2019t be taught, and we believe this is only the beginning of what will become a significant international career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discussions are already under way regarding further performances with orchestras in Canada and other international markets, with Michael\u2019s Canadian debut expected to be the first of many overseas appearances.<\/p>\n
Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here<\/a> to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Lewis on stage with the Canadian orchestra. Renowned Highland singer Michael Lewis has received a standing ovation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,3925,2421,41766],"class_list":["post-124574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-human-interest","tag-latest-news","tag-update-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}