Lewis took the leading tenor roles in Sir Malcolm Sargent's "Glyndebourne" recordings of nine key Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas in the late 1950s and early 1960s where he worked with Elsie Morison and Marjorie Thomas.
Following Lewis's death in 1990 his widow, Elizabeth Lewis established the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks award at Glyndebourne, made possible by funding from the pathologist Dr Jean Shanks (Princess Galitzine). In 2000 Elizabeth moved the award to the Royal Academy of Music wishing to help young singers at that more vulnerable time in their careers.[citation needed]