Ralph Evans (born 1953) is an American violinist, best known as first violinist of the

Fine Arts Quartet The Fine Arts Quartet is a chamber music ensemble founded in Chicago, United States in 1946 by Leonard Sorkin and George Sopkin. The Quartet has recorded over 200 works and has toured internationally for 77 years, making it one of the longest en ...

. The son of Jewish refugees from Russia and Germany, Evans began his musical studies at the age of five at the Vienna Academy of Music. He graduated cum laude from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, where he studied violin with

Broadus Erle Broadus Erle (March 21, 1918 – April 6, 1977) was an American violinist. Born in Chicago and reared in Toronto, Erle began his violin studies at age 3, taught by his mother, Brownie Earl. (She herself was a violin student of Broadus Farmer, ...

. He subsequently received a doctorate from Yale in 1980. As recipient of a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Award, he continued his studies in Europe with

Szymon Goldberg Szymon Goldberg (1 June 190919 July 1993) was a Polish-born Jewish classical music, classical violinist and Conducting, conductor, latterly an American. Born in Włocławek, Congress Poland, Goldberg played the violin as a child growing up in Warsa ...

and

Nathan Milstein Nathan Mironovich Milstein ( – December 21, 1992) was a Russian-born American virtuoso violinist. Widely considered one of the finest violinists of the 20th century, Milstein was known for his interpretations of Bach's solo violin works and ...

. After winning the top prize in a number of major American competitions, including the 1978 Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York and the 1981 National Federation of Music Clubs National Young Artist Competition, he concertized as a soloist throughout North America and Europe. In 1982, Evans won a prize in the

International Tchaikovsky Competition The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of ...

in Moscow. He is briefly featured in a full-length documentary of this 1982 Competition. His performances at this Competition of the

Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto The Violin Concerto in D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor ...

and

Violin Concerto No. 2 (Bartók) Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2, BB 117 was written in 1937–38. During the composer's life, it was known simply as his Violin Concerto. His other violin concerto, Violin Concerto No. 1, Sz. 36, BB 48a, was written in the years 1907–190 ...

were filmed. In late 1982, Evans succeeded Leonard Sorkin as first violinist of the

, and he has toured widely with the Quartet ever since. He has recorded over 100 solo and chamber works. Evans has also received recognition for his work as a composer. His award winning composition "Nocturne" was performed on

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and independ ...

and a recording of his "String Quartet No. 1" was released by

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

in 2008. Since 2017, he has been Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Mannes School of Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...

in New York.

Discography

Ralph Evans Discography

References

External links

Fine Arts Quartet official site

Evans interview with Jeremy Siepmann for Naxos, April 2011

Evans interview with Stephen Schafer for Naxos, October 2009

Evans interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, February 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Ralph 1953 births American classical violinists Male classical violinists American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish classical violinists Living people American male violinists Prize-winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition Yale School of Music alumni Yale University alumni 21st-century classical violinists