Evan J Lawson

Evan J Lawson (b.1989) is one of Australia’s leading emerging queer artists, working at the forefront of contemporary culture as composer, curator, and conductor, chiefly as artistic director of Forest Collective.

Hailed by Alexandra Mathew in Limelight Magazine that "his conducting was superb, rhythmic, precise, and expressive...his whole stance was like that of a dancer," Evan graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2010 with a Bachelor of Music Performance (Hons. composition) under the tutelage of Johanna Selleck. In 2015, he completed a Masters of Music Research (conducting) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music under Benjamin Northey with the assistance of an Australian Postgraduate Award. He has studied internationally with David Aronson (at the Wiener Staatsoper), Alim Shakh (at the Moravska Filharmonie) and Matthias Pintscher (at Grafenegg Festival) 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 in 2015 and completed developing artist programs with the Malthouse Theatre and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Alexander O’Sullivan of Partial Durations has said "Lawson's music is, bar to bar beautiful." Performances and commissions of his music have included Ensemble Lux (Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris, France), by harpist Jessica Fotinos at Jinji Lake Concert Hall (Suzhou, China), Tonkünstler Orchestra (Grafenegg Festival, Austria), Cochlea Duo (SoundSCAPE New Music Festival, Italy), Edges Duo (University of Oregon, USA), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Metropolitan Sinfonietta, Forest Collective (Melbourne Recital Centre, Metropolis New Music Festival, Midsumma Festival), Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra, Hopkins Sinfonia, Australian Children's Choir, Syzygy Ensemble, VCA Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Strings of Melbourne. 

Evan has championed a diversity of composers, such as Australians Lisa Illean, Johanna Selleck, May Lyon, Alex Turley and Andrew Aronowicz, and leading international composers like Mark-Anthony Turnage, Gerard Grisey, Caroline Louise Miller, Philip Venables, Lars Ekstrom, Luciano Berio and Kaija Saariaho.

Evan made his European conducting debut in 2015 with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, as a part of Grafenegg Festival. As guest conductor Evan has worked with the Moravska Filharmonie, Australian Youth Orchestra, Australian National Academy of Music Orchestra, Hopkins Sinfonia, Melbourne University Symphony Orchestra and at the New Music Studio Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and for Melbourne International Arts Festival.  Evan was the inaugural musical director for the RMIT Symphony Orchestra, musical director for the Australian premiere of Holcombe Waller's Requiem Mass: LGBTI (for Day4Night Performance Space and Carriageworks), Come Away with Me to the End of the World (by Adriano and Raymondo Cortese for Ranters Theatre, Malthouse Theatre and Dublin Theatre Festival), and for various opera productions, including Benjamin Britten's Curlew River (Gertrude Opera), the world premiere of his opera Calypso (Forest Collective), Carmen (In Good Company), Die Zauberflöte (Gertrude Opera) and the world premiere production of Nina Sofo's Laugh Out Loud (VCA). Evan has worked with some of the world's finest musicians, including Sir Andrew Davis, Brett Dean, Fabian Russell, Christopher Hogwood, Jan Willem de Vriend, Tan Dun, Marshall McGuire, Tony Arnold and Warwick Stengards.

Outside of his musical activities, Evan has had wide artistic administration experience working with leading companies including the Melbourne & Sydney International Arts Festival's, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Galway International Arts Festival, Victorian Opera and Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

© Evan Lawson 2018

Evan regularly collaborates with other diverse artists such as:

• Poets; Samuel Yeo; Jie Eccles; Nicole Butcher

• Theatre makers and designers; Bridget McKey; John Pyburn; Jane Noonan; Candice MacAllister

• Visual artists; Lucy Fekete, Katherine Phillimore

• Cabaret sensation Danielle Asciak

• Pop-music doyen Addison

• Companies;

  • Forest Collective, Australia

  • Prismatx Ensemble, USA

  • Midsumma Festival, Australia

  • Play On, Australia Lydia Dobbin Director

  • Gertrude Opera, Australia Linda Thompson Artistic Director

• Singers; Rosemary Ball; Lotte Betts-Dean; Kate Bright; Stefanie Dingnis; Justine Anderson; Daniel Todd; Brenton Spiteri

• Conductors; Gloria Gamboz; Patrick Burns

• Composers; May Lyon; Alexander Morris; Alex Turley; Julie Herndon; Caroline Louise Miller; Yair Klartag; Samuel Smith; Jesse Jones; Andrew Aronowicz

• Musicians; Percussionists Crystal Chu; Peter Neville; Violist Alexina Hawkins; Cellist Stephanie Arnold; Nikki Edgar; Flutists Naomi Johnson; Tamara Kohler; Clarinettists Vilan Mai; Edward Ferris; Ashley Smith; Pianist Danae Killian; Harpists Jacinta Dennett; Jessica Fotinos; Catherine Ashley