Garden Concert Series: Trio Encuentros

Evan Orman

Born in Colorado, Evan Orman studied cello at the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Banff Centre In Canada, and the New England Conservatory. His teachers include Colin Carr, Eleanor Shoenfeld and Robert Marsh. He has performed in master classes for Yo Yo Ma, Janos Starker and the Guarneri Quartet and has worked closely with violinist Louis Krasner and composer Iannis Xenakis. An enthusiast of Argentine tango, Evan has studied tango music and the bandonéon (a large, complex instrument which is a member of the concertina family) in Buenos Aires (through a grant from Tango Colorado) and plays the bandonéon in his Denver-based group, Extasis. His interest in the bandonéon, and in the music of Astor Piazzolla (the Argentine bandoneonista and composer) prompted him to acquire his first instrument in 1996. He has studied with Raul Jaurena, of the New York Tango Trio and in Buenos Aires with Camillo Ferrero, of Orquesta El Arranque. In addition, Extasis has coached with bassist Pablo Aslan (also of the New York Tango Trio). He now owns and plays on three bandonéons by Alfred Arnold (Germany) ca. 1925, 1926 and 1936 (the last of these instruments were made in the 1940’s)

Claude Sim

Claude Sim enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, orchestral leader, soloist, and multi-genre performing artist. Equally at home performing on violin and viola, Sim has been a grand prizewinner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Sim is the solo violinist of Extasis, the noted tango group with a studio album to their credit. The ensemble’s arrangements of Golden Age tango by D’Arienzo, Troilo and Pugliese through the nuevo tango of Rovira and Piazzolla serve as foundations of their wide ranging repertoire. Extasis performance tours and community engagements have reached audiences across the United States and Europe. Claude Sim’s performing career and concurrent teaching mission focuses on developing true artistic versatility while building connections across musical genres and communities. Sim’s previous teaching appointments include University of Colorado Denver and Colorado State University. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Violin at CU Boulder College of Music.

Josh Sawicki

Joshua Sawicki is a pianist based in Denver, Colorado.  He appears regularly as orchestral pianist for the Colorado Symphony, as a member of the new-music group The Playground Ensemble, and as principal pianist of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has appeared as a soloist with the Denver Philharmonic, Grand Junction Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Lakewood Symphony, Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Lamont Symphony Orchestra; solo appearances and competitions have taken him to Paris, Manhattan, Utrecht, Novi Sad, Granada, Cambridge, Tampa, and Aspen. He has studied in Boston, New York, London, Tampa, and Denver; his principal teachers include Steven Mayer, Rebecca Penneys, John O’Conor, Anthony di Bonaventura, and Svetozar Ivanov. Besides performing, Joshua is an avid teacher. Currently, besides teaching privately in Denver, he is an affiliate faculty member and piano area coordinator at Regis University, an adjunct faculty at the Community College of Denver,  and is the owner and director of Colorado Music Quest, a music school in Aurora with over 100 students.