Cellist Evan Leslie is the Artistic Producer at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, where he conceives and directs performances and educational programs on music, theater, and dance. Since joining the Library in 2013, Evan has created original programs in collaboration with a wide-range of artists and scholars, including actor Alan Cumming, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, comedian Bobby Moynihan, playwright Marsha Norman, and dancer Dudley Williams, among others. Evan has produced in partnership with such diverse venues and organizations as (le) Poisson Rouge, the Mint Theatre Company, the Upright Citizens Brigade, Sesame Workshop, and WNYC.
As a modern and baroque cellist, Evan has recently performed with the New York Chamber Music Festival, the New York Classical Players, Da Camera of Houston, La Follia Austin Baroque, Ensemble Alles Barock, Chamber Music Tulsa, in addition to chamber music concerts and recitals at the University of St. Thomas, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston. Evan enjoys performing in the cello sections of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, including a recent performance as guest associate principal. In the summer of 2010, Evan was an artist in residence at the Grand Teton Music Festival, as a member of the Red River String Quartet.
From 2011 - 2013 Evan directed community engagement projects for the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas, taught strategies for creative performance, and directed an annual series of community concerts and teaching artist projects. As Executive Artistic Director of Restoration Chamber Music, from 2008 – 2011, Evan created imaginative programs relating historic music to historic buildings on Galveston Island. During his three-season tenure as Da Camera of Houston’s Director of Education, Evan established the Da Camera Young Artist Program, a professional development initiative for emerging professional musicians, and designed concerts for Houston’s Menil Collection, Avant-Garden night club, hospitals, libraries and other community settings.
From 2009 - 2013 Evan taught cello and pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. Evan is also a past faculty member of Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Preparatory and Continuing Studies Department of the University of Houston Moores School of Music. Evan has worked with school districts, including Houston ISD, Klein ISD, and Humble ISD, to help integrate music and art into their curricula.
Evan Leslie grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma. He holds a Master of Music degree from Rice University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Houston Moores School, where he graduated summa cum laude. His primary teachers include Diane Bucchianeri, Vagram Saradjian, and Houston Symphony Principal cellist Brinton Averil Smith. As a student, Evan was fortunate to work with many luminary artists and teachers, including Mischa Maisky, Lynn Harrell, Ko Iwasaki, Colin Carr, and Christina Mahler. Most significantly, Evan was one of four American cellists selected to perform for Mstislav Rostropovich at the seventh American Cello Congress.