Peter Evans

trumpet

Peter Evans is a composer, trumpet player, improvisor and bandleader based in New York City since 2003. Evans is part of a broad, hybridized scene of musical experimentation, and his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. Peter is committed to the simultaneously self-determining and collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool and works with an ever-expanding group of musicians and composers in the creation of new music.
He leads and composes for several different ensembles, primarily Being & Becoming and SYMPHONY (with Alice Teyssier, Jozwiak and Levy Lorenzo). He leads the improvisational trio Forever 21 with virtuosi Andy Berman (guitar) and Michael Ode (drums). As well as collaborative projects such as his duo with Elias Stemeseder and Pulverize the Sound (with Mike Pride and Tim Dahl), Evans continues to work in a variety of new formations, exploring through-composed music, group improvisation, arranging, and electronic music.
In addition to touring and presenting his groups internationally since 2007, Evans has been exploring solo trumpet music since 2002 and is widely recognized as a leading voice in the field.
As a composer, Evans has been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Wet Ink, Yarn/Wire, the Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival, the Jerome Foundation's Emerging Artist Program, and the Doris Duke Foundation. In 2022 Evans was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition.
As an educator, Evans has given masterclasses and conducted workshops on improvisation, composition, instrumental practice, and creativity.
Evans has worked with some of the leading figures in contemporary music: John Zorn, Pauline Oliveros, Brian Ferneyhough, Kanye West, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Mary Halvorson, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusere, Lydia Lunch, Weasel Walter, George Benjamin, Dave Liebman, Ingrid Laubrock, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Tyshawn Sorey, Ikue Mori, Steve Schick, and others. As an interpreter of notated concert music, Evans has performed works by Varese, Xenakis, J. S. Bach, Stravinsky, Elliott Carter, Marcos Balter, Julio Estrada, Agusta Read Thomas, Wagner, Ligeti, and many more.
Peter Evans has been releasing recordings on his own label, More is More, since 2011.