Evan Mitchell, Piano

Biography

Lauded for his “impassioned and vigorous” playing (Pianomania), Evan Mitchell is quickly becoming a young artist to watch. His performances have been deemed “incredibly beautiful” (Fanfare), and “no less than stunning” (Lima News). His recording of Claudio Santoro’s Sonata No. 4, “Fantasia” (1957) is featured on the 2012 CD release, “Piano de Pampa y Jungla: A Collection of Latin American Piano Music.”

Mr. Mitchell’s solo and collaborative performances have been heard in New York’s Steinway Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, in eight countries on three continents, and broadcast on WFMT (Chicago), WFHB (Bloomington, IN), and FM 91 (Northwest Ohio). He has soloed in concerti with such ensembles as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Lima Symphony Orchestra, and the Victoria Symphony, and has performed chamber music with members of the Cleveland and Brazilian Symphony Orchestras. This season’s highlights include a performance at Shanghai’s 1,900-seat Oriental Art Center.

Among other honors, Mr. Mitchell has been awarded first prize in the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, Five Towns Competition, Indiana University Concerto 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 has received additional recognition in the Schmidbauer International Young Artists Competition, Music Teachers National Association Competition, and the BNDES International Piano Competition.

Amid an eventful 2012-13 season that included solo, chamber, concerto, and orchestral appearances, he performed more than 30 concerts for Musical Awakenings®, the signature educational outreach program of the Van Cliburn Foundation, which exposes more than 30,000 public school children annually to classical music.

Mr. Mitchell holds a Master of Music and Bachelor of Music with High Distinction from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Arnaldo Cohen. He received scholarships from the School of Music and Hutton Honors College as an undergraduate, and a highly selective Associate Instructorship in Piano as a graduate student. He is currently working with Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medalist José Feghali at Texas Christian University, and recently joined the Adjunct Faculty of Tarrant County College. When he finds himself away from the piano, he enjoys sailing, following his favorite – and perennially disappointing – professional sports teams, and writing concert reviews for the website www.Bachtrack.com. For more information, please visit www.evanmitchell.net.