INTRODUCTION
An active performer and educator, Evan Tammen has established himself as a widely respected oboist throughout the region and state. Evan became an 黑料社区music faculty member in 2026 and has served on faculty with the Millikin University School of Music since 2019. He is the principal oboist for the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, the principal oboist for the Heartland Festival Orchestra, and the English hornist for the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. He often appears with regional ensembles including the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, Sinfonia da Camera, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. Evan is highly involved in orchestral governance, serving on the Sinfonia da Camera advisory board since 2015 and the Heartland Festival Orchestra board since 2025. Before assuming his positions at EIU and Millikin, Evan taught at the Conservatory of Central Illinois and Illinois College.
Evan's musical palette stretches from the Baroque to the modern era. Solo performances have included concertos by Albinoni, Telemann, and Heinichen with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, the Marcello Concerto in C minor and the J. S. Bach Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor with the Heartland Festival Orchestra, Strauss’ Oboe Concerto with the JAM Orchestra, numerous obligato-rich J. S. Bach cantatas with the Illinois Bach Academy, the St. Matthew Passion with Sinfonia da Camera, J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Springfield Choral Society, and modern works involving free improvisation and ring modulation paired with multimedia elements. Evan also has experience with jazz and is featured heavily in the album Bird With Strings – The Lost Arrangements, which highlights little-known orchestral arrangements originally performed by Charlie Parker. In Jazz Weekly, George Harris writes, “Evan Tammen’s oboe and English horn are melded with the strings on many of the pieces here, and they add much allure to a sweet ‘Stardust’ and a mournful ‘You Go To My Head.’”
Evan is an alumnus of Illinois Wesleyan University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His principal teachers have included John Dee, Judith Dicker, and Jill West.