AWW is sad to report the passing of Evan Harlan on February 27, 2014 due to a long term illness.

Evan Harlan (accordion, piano, composer, and music director) recorded and performed internationally with several jazz and world music ensembles including Dave Douglas, the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the Von Trapp Singers. His own quartet, Andromeda, played original music with the flavors of Americana, tango, gypsy, and other passionate traditions.

In addition to concerts in the New England area, they were the house band for the American Repertory Theater’s production of “Snow” in June in 2003. From 1995-2000, Harlan’s group Excelsior played unorthodox arrangements of 20th century composers’s works. Their CD, “Declassified”, was featured on WGBH radio’s internationally distributed “Art of the States”, WGBH/BBC’s “The World”, WBUR’s “The Connection” and “Here and Now”.

Harlan was the recipient of a 2001 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in music composition; he also scored numerous works for film, dance, and theater. In addition, he played on the soundtracks of Sidney Lumet’s “A Stranger Among Us”, and John Sayles’s “Lone Star”. In 2001, he performed in the orchestra with Luciano Pavarotti at the Fleet Center in Boston, and was featured in Hovanhess’s “Rubaiyat” and Hindemith’s “Kammermusik 1”.

As a conductor of musical theater, he led “Snow in June” and “Shlemeil the First” at the American Repertory, and “Fiorello” at Brandeis University. Evan earned his B.A. from the University of California and M.M. from NEC.(New England Conservatory of Music. He was on the faculty where he taught classes in Contemporary Improvisation. He also had performed on the ACCORDIONS NOW! music festival in New Hampshire.

Evan greatly contributed to the advancement of the accordion through his teaching and performances. His legacy will live on through his students and many recordings.

Funeral arrangements will be posted in the USA News when available.