Evan J Lawson (he/they) is one of Australia’s leading queer artists, working at the forefront of contemporary culture as a composer, writer, curator, singer and conductor. Evan is a founding member and artistic director of interdisciplinary company Forest Collective.

Hailed by Clive O’Connell that ...the sonorities that emerged often proved extraordinary... Evan has been composing music since the age of 10, is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and developing artist programs with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra as part of the Australian Conducting Academy, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malthouse Theatre, and Grafenegg Festival. In Australia, he has studied with Benjamin Northey, Richard Gill, Kevin March, and Johanna Selleck, and internationally with David Aronson, Christopher Hogwood, and Matthias Pintscher who has said that his music is serene, deep, it's even breathing the heritage of Mahler.

Evan was composer-in-residence at Billilla Mansion, a member of the Academy of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, served as the principal conductor for the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, and was musical director of the Monash University Choral Society. Evan’s work ranges from art music to immersive electro-acousmatic works. His work as composer and conductor has brought on collaborations with a wide range of professional, education and community organisations, such as the Volksoper Wien, Stonnington Symphony, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Erda Ensemble, Tacet(i) Ensemble, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Density512, Moravian Filharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, and many more.

Lawson is an Associate Represented Artist with the Australian Music Centre.

opera

Evan is the composer of several critically acclaimed, unorthodox music-theatre presentations. These works include his 2013 opera Calypso (Forest Collective, Samuel Yeo libretto, Stephanie Osztreicher dir.), the 2019 dance-opera Orpheus (Forest Collective, Ashley Dougan chor., Density512 & Prismatx Ensemble) described by Clive O’Connell that ...Lawson found a striking compositional vein that promised a sort of catharsis…, the 2021 micro-opera Vois (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Claire Tipy libretto, Geordie Brookman dir.), and in 2023’s opera The Sea (Forest Collective & BK Opera, Nicole Butcher libretto, Kate Millett dir.), nominated for best new Australian Opera at the 2023 Greenroom Awards. In both 2024 and 2025 he produced the multi-room immersive dance-opera-piano concerto Labyrinth (Forest Collective, Daniel Szesiong Todd libretto, Ashley Dougan chor.) described by Paul Sellar as an Intelligently conceived, thrilling and evocative new work. Since 2020 Evan has been the resident conductor of BK Opera.
As musical director other acclaimed productions include a digital remerging of Arnold Schoenberg’s masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire (Forest Collective, Ashley Dougan chor., Underground Media dir. and editing), the Australian premiere of Robbie Blake’s Town Choir (Melbourne Fringe, Theatre Replacement) and Come Away with Me to the End of the World by Adriano and Raymondo Cortese (Ranters Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Dublin Theatre Festival). As opera conductor, Evan has conducted Benjamin Britten's Curlew River (Linda Thompson, dir.), Georges Bizet’s Carmen (Greg Eldridge, dir.), Claudio Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea (Gale Edwards AM dir.), the Australian premiere of Fat Pig (Kate Millet, dir.) and the Melbourne premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies The Lighthouse (Kate Millett dir.).
Evan has sung in the premiere of numerous works by Stuart Greenbaum, Nick Cave, Tan Dun, Joe Twist, and more.

COLLABORATIONS

Evan’s concert work goes beyond the standard concert hall, encompassing various collaborative works. These include After the long night in collaboration with Deborah Cheetham for Melbourne Pride 2022, Nico with Cabaret sensation Danielle Asciak, fluttering hearts // thinking machines by pop music doyen Addison, Chlorophyll and Fountain with intrepid queer singer-songwriter Max Lawrence, and the Australian premiere of Holcombe Waller's Requiem Mass: LGBT (Mardi Gras, Performance Space and CarriageWorks).

Evan has commissioned and premiered over 100 works from the likes of Marc Anthony Turnage, Nick Cave, Gerard Grisey, Tan Dun, Lisa Illean, Cat Hope, Dylan Lardelli, Philip Venables, Kym Alexandra Dillon, Micah Thompson, Alex Turley, and more.

Evan has acted as assistant conductor for Brett Dean, Warwick Stenngards, and Christopher Hogwood.

acknowledgement

“I would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land and waterways on which I work, learn and live, the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Naarm-Melbourne has always been a significant gathering place for the groups of the Kulin Nation, and I respect their continuing connection with the land. These are stolen lands and sovereignty was never ceded. I encourage you to read the full Uluru Statement from the Heart.”

Outside of his musical activities, Evan has had wide artistic administration experience working with some of the finest arts and cultural companies and festivals, such as the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Australian Chamber Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Melbourne Festival, Melbourne Recital Centre, Sydney Festival, Galway International Arts Festival, and Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Evan acknowledges the generous financial support of his work from Creative Victoria, Bayside City Council, Yarra City Council, City of Greater Geelong, and the Ian Potter Cultural Fund.

A huge debt of gratitude goes to Rachel Horgan for designing this website.