Evan
Harris
Schedule
Recent Highlights
Description
For over three decades, Jazz at Lincoln Center has been a leading advocate for jazz, culture, and arts education globally. Under the direction of Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center has brought the art form of jazz from the heart of New York City to over 446 cities in more than 40 countries.
The JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER PRESENTS touring initiative provides an affordable opportunity to present great jazz programming, featuring up-and-coming musicians who have been identified as rising stars by JALC. The initiative also allows for expansion of the mission of JALC “to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education, and advocacy.”
Songs We Love was first presented as the 2016 Season Opener at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Songs We Love is a journey through the first 50 years of jazz song. Under the musical direction of Riley Mulherkar, 3 guest vocalists will join an all-star band made up of New York’s rising stars. Combining their distinct talents, the group will sing their way through four decades of music, beginning with the early blues and jazz of the 1920s and ending in the early 1950s. Iconic singers to be explored include Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland.
Nearly 200,000 students participate in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education programs each year. Todd Stoll Vice President of Education describes the Education department as “the tangible embodiment of our concerts; if performance is the heart of JALC, education is the veins carrying the music to future generations.” Let Freedom Swing, from the renowned education department at JALC is being offered in conjunction with the tour.
Evan Harris
Saxophonist
Dates
Biography
Evan Harris is a New York-based saxophonist, educator and composer, whose passion for jazz has informed his “vividly evocative” (Words About Music) sound on the saxophone.
Evan leads his own ensemble, the Evan Harris Quintet, which performs his original compositions, drawing inspiration from the panoramas and cityscapes that have shaped his recent past. The compositions themselves are “cinematic in feel” (Jazz in Europe) and architectural, “painting the sun rising over the jagged line of the city’s skyscrapers” (Words About Music). The Evan Harris Quintet has appeared in New York, as a headline act at the 2019 DC Jazz Festival, and across Australia for a national album launch tour, presenting Evan’s debut album Skylines. Skylines garnered three nominations for the 2018 Australian Jazz Bell Awards; Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Best Produced Album and Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year. Skylines is available through label 54 Records on CD, vinyl and all digital platforms.
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Evan has established himself with performance credits ranging from Miguel Zenon’s Identities are Changeable to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. At the formative age of 26, Evan has been acknowledged with a number of accolades, including the title of 2018 Young Australian Jazz Musician of the Year, a grant from the Arts Council of Australia, and the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Scholarship. Evan maintains an active performance calendar locally in New York City at venues such as the Blue Note, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Minton’s Playhouse, and Smalls Jazz Club, and has toured metropolitan and regional Australia, the USA, and Switzerland.
Having graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Music (Honours First Class), Evan was awarded the University Medal, a credit recognising the most distinguished graduate. He subsequently completed a Master of Music (Jazz Studies) degree at The Juilliard School in 2018 and was awarded the William Schuman Prize, which recognises a graduate student of music for outstanding achievement and leadership. Evan continued his studies at Juilliard where he completed an Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies, a two-year performance-based post-graduate program. As a Doctor of Philosophy candidate at the University of Sydney, Evan investigated the pedagogical processes involved in developing an individual approach to the saxophone through practice-led research.
While serving as President of Sydney Youth Jazz Ensemble (2013-2016), and as Treasurer of the Jazzgroove Association, Evan became an active member of the artistic community, which he continues to represent as a part of the Sydney University Graduate Union of North America's Young Alumni Council, and as a peer assessor for Australian Arts Fund Grant applications.
As an educator, Evan has presented lecture-demonstrations, workshops and clinics on behalf of a Lincoln Center Moments, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Adobe, Musica Viva, Queens Community House, Breaking Ground, Jazz Workshop Australia, University of Sydney and the Juilliard School, as a member of the Artist Diploma Ensemble. Evan appears throughout New York as a teaching artist and curriculum development consultant for S'Cool Sounds, where he has developed and implemented curricula that highlight the vast cultural diversity of New York City. Evan has prepared students for high-level performances, exams and auditions; some of whom were accepted to the Juilliard School Precollege Division, academically-selective high schools, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music’s undergraduate jazz program (Australia’s most competitive and esteemed course).
As Program Development Associate for S’Cool Sounds, Evan has helped to shape the organisation’s educational goals and practices, and to align them with the standards outlined in the New York City Department of Education’s Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. Evan has delivered courses on behalf of S’Cool Sounds to elementary school through to ‘mature’ age students, teaching a diverse array of interactive programs such as “Recorders Without Borders” (beginner recorder performance and technique), “Musical Time Machine” (international music history), and is currently piloting “New York Stories” (the history of New York City told through music).
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