Evan Mitchell

Evan Mitchell is one of Canada’s pre-eminent conductors of film scores live in concert, having performed nearly twenty distinct film programs live to projection. After performing Singin’ in the Rain with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, he conducted the North American premiere of Patricia Ward Kelly’s curated show “Gene Kelly: A Life in Music” with the Kingston Symphony. He has a longstanding relationship with Attila Glatz Concert Productions and Cineconcerts, and by the end of the 2022/23 season, he had conducted all eight of the Harry Potter films.

Evan’s style of leadership is based on a combination of personal sincerity and the dogged pursuit of collegial music-making—an approach, he says, that he learned from his parents. In performance, Evan prizes commitment, risk-taking, drive, and an unwavering effort to produce the widest possible spectrum of sound colours. He believes in extreme softness as well as extreme loudness, and his over-arching goal is to provoke a sustained emotional response in listeners.

Evan began his professional musical life at age 16 with drumset lessons. This experience fostered a deep-rooted sense of rhythm and pulse that he focuses on during his rehearsal process. While he loves all the orchestra’s instruments, he particularly adores the marimba, an instrument whose expressive potential is nearly limitless.

Evan is in his eighth season as music director of the Kingston Symphony in Ontario.