Biography
Lauded for his “impassioned and vigorous” playing (Pianomania), pianist Evan Mitchell has established himself as a bold and versatile artist. His richly varied schedule of nearly 100 performances per year includes solo recitals, concerti, chamber music, outreach, and orchestral keyboard work. Dr. Mitchell’s performances have been deemed “incredibly beautiful” (Fanfare), “amazing” (Fort Worth Weekly), and “no less than stunning” (Lima News). His recording of world premieres with bassist Szymon Marciniak earned rave reviews; Bass World called their performances “intoxicating,” deeming this “a seminal recording.” Dr. Mitchell's solo debut album American Century will be released in 2024 on the Centaur label. He is also featured on the 2012 release “Piano de Pampa y Jungla: A Collection of Latin American Piano Music.”
Evan Mitchell’s performances have been heard in New York’s Steinway Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, in ten countries on four continents, radio broadcast on WFMT (Chicago), WFHB (Bloomington), Classic FM 94.7 (Shanghai), and televised in North Texas. Highlights include debuts for the prestigious Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts (Chicago), at Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), and at several major venues in Shanghai. Dr. Mitchell has soloed in concerti with such ensembles as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Lima Symphony Orchestra, and Victoria Symphony; worked with conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Case Scaglione, Darryl One, Crafton Beck, and David Effron; and collaborated in recital with major artists including clarinetists Corrado Giuffredi and Michael Webster, flutists Leone Buyse and Jim Walker, double bassist Gary Karr, plus members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Cleveland and Rio de Janeiro (OSB). Upcoming engagements include concerti by Florence Price and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
A fierce advocate for the arts, Evan Mitchell looks constantly for ways to reach new audiences, and to inspire in others a love for music. He was a featured artist for eight years on the Texas Touring Roster, a program through with the Texas Commission on the Arts provides grants to nonprofit presenters in order to fund performances by the state’s finest musicians, poets, visual artists, and more. Dr. Mitchell performed more than 300 concerts over ten years for Cliburn in the Classroom, the signature educational outreach program of the Cliburn, which exposes more than 30,000 public school students annually to live music. He serves as a trustee on the Board of – and performs frequently with – Mount Vernon Music, a nonprofit that not only brings first-rate chamber concerts to rural east Texas but also awards generous scholarships to music students in those communities each year. Other past and current performance affiliations include Avant Chamber Ballet, the chamber series Transfigured Nights & Art Music, Voices of Change, and DFW-based Open Classical, whose motto – “Music that’s dressed down, not dumbed down” – summarizes a mission to present classical music in less formal, unconventional spaces. Dr. Mitchell’s enthusiasm for the music of our time is reflected in recent world premieres of works by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Frank Proto, Shang Lu, and Stacy Garrop, several of which have been recorded and released commercially.
In demand as a collaborative artist, Dr. Mitchell is a frequent guest on numerous chamber music series, on university campuses in recital with visiting and faculty artists, and as a staff collaborator at conferences and competitions. He has been a regular presence at the International Society of Bassists conventions, and has been engaged by the International Women’s Brass Conference, Myrna Brown Flute Competition, and Cliburn Junior International Piano Competition, among others.
Evan Mitchell has given masterclasses and guest artist recitals at Baylor University, the University of Memphis, Southwestern University, Virginia Tech, Western Kentucky University, and other institutions. Dr. Mitchell has been a featured presenter at the MTNA and College Music Society National Conferences, and for various local teachers’ associations. He has been a juror for the Dallas International Piano Competition, Texas Music Teachers Association Solo Competition, and other local and regional contests. During the summer of 2023, Dr. Mitchell spent six weeks adjudicating performances by more than 2,500 students in cities throughout Taiwan as an examiner for IPPEC. In 2021 he was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame.
In his role as an author for Tom Gerou Music, Dr. Mitchell has edited volumes of repertoire by Friedrich Burgmüller, Scott Joplin, and two separate publications of works by Charles Griffes.
Evan Mitchell has captured first prize in the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, Five Towns Competition, PianoTexas International Festival Concerto Competition, and the Twelfth Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America, in which he was also awarded the Jacques Klein Prize for Best Performance of a Brazilian Solo Piano Work. He won Fifth Prize at the 2012 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and gave a recital at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City as a quarterfinalist in the Honens International Piano Competition.
A native of Montclair, New Jersey, Evan Mitchell holds degrees from the Indiana University-Bloomington Jacobs School of Music (BM, MM) and Texas Christian University (DMA). His principal teachers have included John Owings, Arnaldo Cohen and the late José Feghali, and he has worked with renowned artist-teachers including Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky, Barry Douglas, and Ann Schein. He credits his early mentors Dr. Thomas Parente and Dr. Brandt Fredriksen with pointing the way toward a fulfilling life in music.