Evan J Lawson (b.1989, he/they) is one of Australia’s leading queer artists, working at the forefront of contemporary culture as composer, writer, curator, and conductor, chiefly as 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 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Malthouse Theatre, the Australian Conducting Academy and Gragenegg 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 in 2015, a member of the Academy of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2020 and 2021, served as the principal conductor for the Bendigo Festival of Exploratory Music in 2019, and is currently musical director of the Monash University Choral Society.

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

opera

With a background as a singer, and with a keen interest in theatre and the human voice, Evan is the creator 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 most recently in 2023’s The Sea (Forest Collective & BK Opera, Kate Millett dir.), described by Patricia Di Risio as a highly atmospheric opera that moves the audience through its fervent composition. In 2024, he presented the multi-room dance-opera-piano concerto adventure Labyrinth (Forest Collective, Daniel Szesiong Todd lib., 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.

Other acclaimed productions include a digital reimaging 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 directed Benjamin Britten's Curlew River, Georges Bizet’s Carmen (Greg Eldridge, dir.), Claudio Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea (Gale Edwards AM dir.) and the Melbourne premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies The Lighthouse (Kate Millett dir.).

COLLABORATION

Evan’s practice 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.

PERFORMANCE

Evan has performed across Australia, Asia, Europe, and the USA, collaborating with a variety of companies, such as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Moravska Filharmonie, Forest Collective, ANAM Orchestra, Australian Youth Orchestra, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, Geelong Symphony Orchestra, Density512, Performance Space, Ranters Theatre, Malthouse Theatre, Victorian Youth Symphony Orchestra, Tacet(I) Ensemble, Homophonic! and Syzygy Ensemble.

He has served as an assistant conductor to Brett Dean, Warwick Stenngards, and Christopher Hogwood.

His work has been featured at prominent events and venues, such as the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Metropolis New Music Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, Grafenegg Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, International Composition Institute of Thailand, Mardi Gras, Midsumma Festival, SoundSCAPE New Music Festival, Melbourne Recital Centre, CarriageWorks, Jinji Lake Concert Hall, and the Universities of Melbourne, Paris, Texas & Oregon.

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, 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.

Key to Evan’s work is his ongoing relationship with Abbotsford Convent.

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