NOA
Noa Even is a versatile saxophonist whose work as a performer and educator is dedicated to the arts of today. In addition to creating new music through commissioning and close collaboration with living composers, she interprets traditional concert music and improvises.
Atomic, Noa’s solo commissioning project, features works for saxophone, interactive electronics, and video that explore themes of human connection, such as support for the transgender community, immigration policies, and feelings of regret. Since premiering atomic in September 2019, Noa toured the program across the country, including appearances at several Michigan universities, Stack Overflow series’ Colombian Composer Collective Residency (Austin, TX), fp presents (Cleveland, OH), Fuse Factory (Columbus, OH), University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and a guest artist visit to the University of Georgia as a 2019-2020 Willson Center Distinguished Artist.
Noa’s saxophone duo, Ogni Suono, has toured Asia, Europe, and North America since their formation in 2009. Most recently, they traveled to Taiwan and China to perform commissioned works and teach as guest clinicians. Much of the music Ogni Suono has commissioned can be found on their albums, Invisible Seams and SaxoVoce. In 2013, Noa formed Patchwork, a saxophone and drum set duo that continues to build an eclectic body of work for their unique instrumentation. Their debut, self-titled album, described as “bewitching” (ClevelandClassical.com), was released in May 2020 on New Focus Recordings. Both Ogni Suono and Patchwork combine university performances with master classes, student composer reading sessions, and discussions on entrepreneurship in the arts. Noa has also performed with Alia Musica Pittsburgh and Cleveland-based No Exit New Music Ensemble.
Recent performances as an improvisor include the YARDS Project’s CINE-EX in downtown Cleveland, an evening of experimental film and modern dance with music by We Three Qings, Noa’s saxophone, guitar, and drum set trio. Noa performed a solo improvisation for Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra Lab Group’s spring concert in 2019 and joined the students for a group improvisation. She has also teamed up with flutist Anne La Berge for improvised sets on their joint concerts in Northeast Ohio in 2018. Alongside her colleague, Kyle Hutchins, Noa recently started the online interview series Talking Free Music that features some of today’s leading practitioners in improvisation.
In 2011, Noa won third prize at the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition in Bangkok, where she performed as a soloist with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed concerti with the Bowling Green Philharmonia and the Concert Orchestra of the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati at the 2018 NASA Biennial Conference.
In 2017, Noa co-founded Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP), a non-profit organization that champions new and experimental music by curating a year-round concert series, presenting Re:Sound, an annual festival, and organizing professional opportunities for young composers. She serves on the editorial board of The Saxophone Symposium journal, as advisor on the Committee on the Status of Women+, and Treasurer on the Executive Committee of the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA).
Noa is Lecturer and Head of Woodwinds at Rowan University. She was on faculty at Kent State University from 2013-2020 and served as sabbatical replacement at the University of Oregon in spring 2017. She holds a DMA in contemporary music from Bowling Green State University, a master’s degree in performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a bachelor’s in performance and music education from Northwestern University. Additional studies include the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Boulogne-Billancourt, where she studied with Jean-Michel Goury. Her other primary instructors include John Sampen, Debra Richtmeyer, and Fred Hemke.
Noa is a Conn-Selmer Artist-Clinician and on the Vandoren Artist Roster.
IG: @noaeven.music