Dr. Evan Zegiel (he/him) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and low brass educator based in Michigan. He is the current touring bassist for the Broadway musical production of Pretty Woman on bass guitar, is regularly concertizing at schools and colleges as a tuba soloist, as well as giving masterclasses and clinics. During the 2023-24 academic year, he was a guest artist and/or held residencies at such institutions as University of California (Los Angeles), Ithaca College, The Hartt School, Oklahoma State University, University of Utah, University of Nevada (Reno), Missouri State University, University of South Carolina, and the University of Georgia, among others.

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Dr. Zegiel holds BM and MM degrees in Performance and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan and a DMA in Performance from Michigan State University, where he studied with Fritz Kaenzig and Philip Sinder, respectively. He studied composition with Dr. David Biedenbender at MSU, after being a self-taught composer since his teenage years. He has held teaching positions at Purdue University Fort Wayne (IN) and throughout the Detroit metro area and the Greater Lansing communities in Michigan.

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Dr. Zegiel’s musical background is rooted in orchestral performance. He has performed with such ensembles as the Detroit and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras, and he is a former New World Symphony Tuba Fellow. He is also an award-winning tuba soloist. Some of his wins include the Student and Artist Divisions of the Falcone Festival competitions, the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition at Brevard Music Center, and the US Air Force Band’s Colonel George S. Howard Young Artist Competition, among others.

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As a composer, Dr. Zegiel draws upon his background in rock, punk, and heavy metal, and he often writes about the challenges presented by climate change. His piece for unaccompanied tuba, Climate Strike, won the Tuba category of the 2020 Falcone Festival's Call for Scores. Recently, his new pieces featuring solo classical instruments with heavy metal accompaniments have made waves in the classical community. The first of these projects, his Heavy Metal Concerto, was a finalist for the Harvey Phillips Award for Excellence in Composition at the 2023 International Tuba-Euphonium Conference. His piece for trumpet and heavy metal band, Omen, is slated to be performed at the 2024 International Trumpet Guild Conference New Works Recital by David Hall.

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When he isn't performing, composing, or teaching, Dr. Zegiel enjoys watching videos about Star Wars lore and astrophysics on YouTube, drinking coffee while contemplating the scope of the universe, and hiking trails with his partner, Mary Grace Ellerbee.