Evan Johanson

Violinist Evan Johanson made his orchestral debut with the Seattle Symphony in 2015 after winning the Symphony’s Young Artist Award. In 2020, he was invited to play Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Colburn Orchestra. He is a first prize winner of the Simon-Fiset SMTA competition (senior division), and is a recipient of several other first prizes and honors including the Music of Remembrance/David Tonkonogui Memorial Award in 2016 and the Seattle Young Artist Competition. Other concerto appearances include the Seattle Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest Orchestra, Eastside Symphony, and the Seattle Youth Symphony.

Orchestrally, Evan has performed with the Seattle Symphony, and served in leadership positions at both the Yale Philharmonia and the Colburn Orchestra. Before college, Evan was a part of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras program from 2007-2017, the last four years of which he was concertmaster. Between 2018-2020 he also was principal second of the American Youth Symphony. Johanson has spent summers touring Latin America, Europe, and China with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, serving as concertmaster in 2016 & 2017 under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach and Marin Alsop respectively. Most recently, Evan was appointed associate principal second for the 2023 New York String Orchestra Seminar, and associate concertmaster for the 2024 NYO All-Stars concert under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

An avid chamber musician, Johanson formed the Hart Quartet in 2019, which later went on to win first prize of the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices Chamber Music Competition. In 2023 his quartet at the Yale School of Music was awarded the prestigious Broadus Earle Quartet Prize. Both of his years at Yale, his respective quartets won the Oneppo Chamber Music Competition. During his last year at the Colburn School, Evan curated two recitals dedicated purely to chamber music, performing with his colleagues and faculty such as Clive Greensmith and Fabio Bidini. He has also worked with artists such as Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, Lawrence Power, Marcy Rosen, Miklós Perényi, Jonathan Biss, Enrico Pace, Molly Carr, Edward Arron, Melvin Chen, Christopher Costanza, Ara Gregorian, and Janine Jansen.

Since 2011, Evan has spent his summer’s participating in music festivals around the country. Past appearances include the Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World, Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Piano & Strings, the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Spring Workshop, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Taos School of Music, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, the Aspen School of Music & Festival, and the Meadowmount School of Music. Johanson completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Colburn Conservatory in 2022 under the tutelage of Robert Lipsett. His previous teachers include Simon James, Judith Ingolfsson, and Margaret Pressley. Currently, Evan is finishing his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music with Ani Kavafian.