Throughout his diverse body of work, Evan L. Snyder is unified in his dedication to storytelling. Best known for his works for the operatic stage, Evan has been praised for his “genuine understanding of the human voice” and his “unapologetically beautiful music,” but for him, bringing stories to life through music is the center of his work. A winner of the 2017 Fort Worth Opera Frontiers Competition, his first opera, A Capacity for Evil, broke with conventional opera genres, telling a Holmesian detective tale on the operatic stage. The opera premiered in fall 2018, with Detroit’s Opera MODO and was enthusiastically received by the run’s sold out audiences. Evan’s current operatic project, The Clef of the Universe, is a new science fiction opera, following a group of archeologist crash-landed on an alien world. An aria excerpted from the new work, “On the beach at night alone…” was previewed at Constellation Chicago as a part of the 2019 Fresh Inc Festival.

Evan’s interest in novel storytelling carries over to his work outside of opera as well. His musical portrait of a friend, Theme Song for Dan Carty, was originally written for the 2018 Fresh Inc Festival, and since went on to win the 2018 Detroit REVIVAL Project, as well as receiving a performance by the esteemed Fifth House Ensemble at the 2019 Red Note Festival. He has also received chamber music commissions from both Fifth House and the Lansing-based ConTempus Initiative. The latter commission resulted in his Disappearing Landscapes, a children’s work for mixed quartet and narrator, exploring the impact of humanity on nature, which premiered as a part of the 2018-2019 Lansing Symphony’s Family Series.

Storytelling on a more well-trodden road, Evan has also composed numerous songs, as well as two full-length song cycles. His first cycle, Ulysses, a setting of Tennyson’s famous dramatic monologue of the same name, was premiered by Richard Fracker at Michigan State University in March 2018. His second, Dynamic Roads, is an original work dealing with themes of moving and aging, was created in collaboration with poet Peter Faziani. The work was commissioned by bass-baritone Joe Baunoch, who premiered the cycle at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, May 2019. Upcoming in his work with song, Evan is very excited to be collaborating with internationally-renowned soprano Tamara Wilson on a commission for a new song cycle, which premieres May 2022.

Evan is a proud graduate of Michigan State University, holding degrees in composition, music theory, and voice.