Evan Kassof’s life defies easy categorization. A former physicist turned composer, labor organizer, and operatic storyteller, Evan is now bringing his multifaceted perspective to Chestertown as an artist-in-residence at the Kent Cultural Alliance. His current work explores the emotional and political contours of climate change through music that is both mathematically constructed and deeply human.
Evan grew up in South Florida, captivated by science and watching space shuttle launches from his backyard. His musical path began unexpectedly: he joined orchestra to skip gym and picked the cello. Encouraged by mentors, he pursued a double major in physics and music composition at the University of Florida, splitting time between dark matter research and composing.
A turning point came when he applied on a whim to the Royal Academy of Music in London. Choosing it over a physics PhD at Northwestern, he embraced experimental composition, creating operas performed at the Royal Opera House and in Budapest—and even a piece for a resonant oil tank in the Canary Islands. “It was one thing to do what I always dreamed of,” he said, “but another to find myself doing something I’d never dared to imagine.”
Returning to the U.S., visa issues brought him to Temple University for a doctorate, where he co-founded an opera company and became a key organizer in a graduate student strike. Leading high-stakes negotiations changed his view of performance. “Now, if I’m not sure the audience is okay, I don’t want to make music that doesn’t help them survive it.” For Evan, art must not just move, it must sustain.
His recent artistic residencies reflect this ethos. In Oregon, he abandoned plans to compose in response to majestic landscapes and instead began interviewing local residents about food and land. In Wyoming, he collected oral histories about the Tongue River, investigating how water’s role in people’s lives changes across generations. These interviews informed new music rooted in lived experience.
In Chestertown, his newest piece, Lies We Tell Ourselves About the Future, emerged from community recordings. Residents responded to the prompt: “Think about the year 2075. Who do you know will be alive then? What do you think the world will be like? And is that okay?” Evan is transforming their reflections into a series of musical prayers, performed by a small ensemble including himself on cello. Each ends with a poignant refrain—a hesitant hope, a quiet grief, or a fierce plea.
“When people think about the future and realize they might not be in it,” he said, “they don’t mention money or possessions. They speak of love. They speak of others. That’s what matters.”
He is also composing a larger, evening-length work structured around the seven steps of labor organizing conversations. Drawing from interviews with environmentalists, artists, and farmers in the region, each musical movement mirrors a strategy used to empower workers: identify issues, agitate, propose a plan, inoculate, and recommit. It’s a merging of his two great callings: organizing and composing, toward a shared future.
You are invited to Kent Cultural Alliance’s CLIMATE exhibit and talks of resident artists, Evan Kassof and Marty Two Bulls, Jr. this Friday and Saturday.
Friday, August 1, 2025 – OPENING NIGHT at KCA from 5-8 pm. Join us for the opening of CLIMATE, An SFW Residency Exhibit featuring KCA’s resident artists
Saturday, August 2, 2025 – ARTISTS’ Talk at KCA at 1:00 join us for this more formal presentation of residency work by KCA’s artists. The presentation will be followed by a lite reception.
For more about Kent Cultural Alliance, go here.
Here are a few minutes from a longer conversation with Evan.
This video is approximately eight minutes in length.
