Gregory Evans

I am a professional singer (classical and jazz), choral conductor and composer in Birmingham, Alabama, with diverse interests outside music, including art, architecture, photography, urban renewal and politics. My aesthetic sensibilities (aural, visual, literary etc) range from antiquity to the most avant of the avant garde. Raised in the South but not bound by it, I have a great appreciation for local history and culture but also for things modern and progressive. Birmingham, my home since childhood, is the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement and affords an intense ongoing education in human values, both good and bad. I participate as much as is possible in my city as an active (and sometimes, activist) citizen. I prefer living in an urban environment, which is the most intellectually stimiulating, but I have an irrepressible desire for a oneness with nature which rural life affords. I oppose resignation to the idea of cyclical history and choose to hope for societal--civilizational--evolution, despite apparent trends to the contrary....

Is there any reason why the natural world and civilization can't harmoniously coexist? There is, undoubtedly, a serious disequilibrium that too many ignore, and yet Yellowstone and the Chrysler Building are both great wonders. As you might have suspected, I do posses an introspective side, and spiritual contemplation has played a large role in my life. I have travelled on a long spiritual journey, from the Baptist church of my youth to Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy & Roman Catholicism. Currently, I am bending towards Thoreau... My favorite places are Paris and Canterbury, each of which reflects a distinct side of my personality.

To throw in a word of the practical, this past year a long-time music position I held came to an end, so I am in search of my next phase of life.