Jeremiah Evans has been described as a “consummate melodist” (OperaWire), and his songs and piano repertoire have been praised as having “an impressionist milkiness” (NY Times). In the last five years, his music has permeated the classical vocal world, with performances by Lawrence Brownlee, Kenneth Overton, and many others.
Tell us how you got started.
Early on, I was trying to get my art songs performed, so I would randomly contact voice studios to ask if I could mail them scores. I saw your Vox Novus concert on line, and was determined to get some scores to you. Luckily for me, you were open to the idea! I can laugh about it now, but looking back, I think some of the studio teachers must have thought that I was a bit of a nuisance, like a door-to-door salesman, but I was determined to get something going.
You craft such beautiful, powerful, and exciting art songs. How did your music studies prepare you for life as a composer?
My earliest musical training was at a large Southern Baptist Church in Dallas which had a terrific private school where I attended through middle school. I was in the choir, band, and took piano lessons. I went to the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts; there I took private composition lessons from the music director who was a composer and the first thing he taught me was how to set words to music. I can recall that the very first poem that I set was Emily Dickinson’s “I Never Saw A Moor.” I kept that song, of course it’s been revised, and it is included in my American Verse and Vestige Series of 65 American Art song settings.
I studied composition with Dr. Mary Jeanne Van Appledorn at Texas Tech University. I also accompanied in many studios, including voice studios, which I really enjoyed. When I was accompanying singers, there was this amazing freedom on the stage that I could feel behind the piano. There was this space and this range that they had to connect with an audience that I immediately was drawn to. All of those experiences added to my process for writing for voice.
But during those years, I began to suffer from extremely serious performance anxiety issues; I decided to leave to pursue music in my own way outside of the academic space. As an independent composer I have had to learn by doing and failing, then getting back up, and trying again. This has been a very unorthodox way of going about pursuing the compositional craft, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Your songs are receiving a lot of praise and attention. Tell us about your inclusion in Mr. Brownlee’s Grammy-Nominated album, Rising.
It was because of Dr. Louise Toppin. I can recall hearing her brilliant album, Heart On The Wall, and I was blown away. I figured that she must be the epicenter of all things “African American Art Song” and I sent an email asking her if I could send her some of my songs. Since then, Dr. Toppin has been instrumental in the dissemination of my songs. It was because of her recommendation that Lawrence Brownlee included three of my songs on Rising. I am eternally grateful to her for recommending my songs to Lawrence!
Your setting of Langston Hughes’ “April Rain Song” is one of those selections.
“April Rain Song” is the first song that people really expressed an interest in and is the most performed song that I have composed. I can remember when I read that poem it elicited an immediate emotional reaction, and it all came together pretty easily. There was a rhapsodic feel to it that I felt I could express at the piano. It was the thrill of a lifetime to work with a great star like Lawrence.
Your collaboration with him is continuing, isn’t it?
Yes! I just finished a commission from him, a new song cycle, for a future project of his, but I can’t say much about it yet.
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And your connection with Kenneth Overton?
I was thrilled to get a call from the truly amazing baritone, Kenneth Overton, who was looking for songs to be included on his album, What Dreams We Have, featuring the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar. I sent him “Summer in the South” which he accepted. To be able to work with Kenneth was just fantastic. Of course, the song was originally written for high voice, and you premiered it, so the only change I had to make was to transpose it down for baritone. He made a handful of recommendations for the song that he wanted to see and we made those changes. I was floored when I heard him singing my “Summer in the South” on the album for the first time. As a composer, when I finish a piece, I have a very definite idea of how it should sound in performance. It’s wonderful to work with singers who take the music to a place you never could have imagined.
What final thoughts do you want to share with CS readers?
My hope is to compose music that will reflect, as much as possible, all of the passion I’ve had for classical music over the course of my life. My music is built from so many of the stylistic elements from the canon of classical music but repurposed and curated in my own personal way. I am so grateful to the classical voice community for their enthusiasm for programming living composers.
To learn more, or to purchase or download, visit https://www.jevansmusicpress.com.
