Ari Evan – cello (USA)
Born and raised in New York, cellist Ari Evan is currently an artist-in-residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the tutelage of Gary Hoffman. Previously, he was a fellow of Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall—a prestigious two-year residency that combines first-class performance opportunities with community engagement and entrepreneurship projects. Prior to Ensemble Connect, he studied with Timothy Eddy at the Juilliard School, where he completed his Master’s degree in 2017.
A versatile chamber musician, Ari has performed with many of the world’s pre-eminent musical artists. Recently, Ari concluded a 3-month, 2-continent summer tour as guest cellist with the award-winning Rolston String Quartet. Highlights from the summer included a 7-concert marathon in 3 days at Musikdorf Ernen, as well as collaborations with Pedja Muzijevic, Dasol Kim, Benjamin Hochman, and Kinan Azmeh. During his first year at the Chapelle, Ari recorded a streamed performance of Brahms’ B-flat sextet with Gary Hoffman, and recorded the first three Cesar Franck piano trios with Frank Braley, for the Chapel’s upcoming CD album commemorating Franck’s 250th birthday. Other notable chamber music collaborations include performances with Shumel Ashkenasi, Colin Carr, Miriam Fried, Hsin-Yun Huang, Ani Kavafian, Itzhak Perlman, Robert McDonald, former members of the Cleveland Quartet, Artemis Quartet, and principal members of the Berlin Philharmoniker. His festival appearances include Ravinia, Krzyzowa Music, Bay Chamber Festival, Music Mountain, IMS Prussia Cove, the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Olympic Music Festival, ECU’s Four Seasons Festival, Kneisel Hall, and the Sarasota Music Festival, among others.
A strong proponent of new music and cross-disciplinary collaborations, Ari is on roster for the Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC) on Broadway — a theater company that strives to create shows that combine acting, chamber music, singing, and dance. As a part of this theater company, reviewers hailed Ari as “a cellist whose joy in the music fills the theater space and draws us in as well.” He often performs music of living composers, and has worked with Esa-Pekka Salonen, Augusta Reed Thomas, John Zorn, Kinan Azmeh, George Lewis, Thierry Escaich on their own compositions.
Passionate about community engagement and teaching, Ari is the founder and artistic director of the Forest Hills Chamber Music Series, striving to promote Jewish music and bringing classical music to the community he grew up in. He also coached chamber music at Juilliard pre-college and held a cello faculty position at the Opus 118 School of Music during the 2017-18 academic year. In 2017, Ari co-led a week-long music classroom workshop at the Nord Anglia School of Dubai, through their partnership with Juilliard’s Global Ventures program. As part of Ensemble Connect, he gave over 80 interactive performances at disability homes, prisons, retirement homes, schools (K-12), and centers for children with disabilities—he fervently believes in music’s ability to unite people of all different communities and backgrounds.
A fond traveler, Ari’s musical endeavors have brought him to Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, the U.A.E., and throughout the US. He hopes to see more of the world through music in the near future!
Since September 2020, he is an Artist in Residence in the cello section of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the tutelage of Gary Hoffman.