Robed in school colours of blue and white provided lovingly by the Mothers’ Association, the all-boy choristers of the latter (treble, alto, tenor, bass) sang at all appropriate services at this Anglican School and, especially, for the Christmas service of Nine Lessons and Carols at St Paul’s Cathedral, where their reputation for musicianship, discipline, enthusiasm and good conduct made them a particular favourite of the cathedral staff, resulting in their selection at short notice to provide the choral music at the national memorial service for the 18 SAS soldiers killed in the Blackhawk helicopter disaster.

Meanwhile at school, Lewis established the annual chamber music concert, with solo and ensemble performances interspersed with witty comments from the director and Lewis’s own choice of outrageous musical anecdotes from Bach to Beecham. Then there were the great gala performances in the Thorold Hall or the Hamer Hall or the Blackwood Hall at Monash University, from symphonies and concertos (Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, for instance) to vocal offerings by soloists (some of them taught by Carole Plumridge) and by the huge and joyous Festival Choir.

But the foundation for all this musical excellence was the curriculum which Lewis personally devised for the school, with specialist teaching given to all year 7 and 8 boys in the music school’s ensemble rooms, which were dedicated separately to strings, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments – every boy, hands on, and increasingly musical. The incoming headmaster of 1988 was left in no doubt by an impassioned Lewis that such teaching had to be an integral part of the school’s academic curriculum.

A staunch Anglican by education and personal faith, Lewis was for many years both organist and choirmaster at his local parish church, turning at a moment’s notice from a carols service at St Paul’s Cathedral to the annual lessons and carols at St Peter’s, Box Hill, where he continued to perform and conduct almost up to his death on September 28 following a brave battle with cancer.

Lewis is survived by wife Carole and sons Christopher and Richard and their families.