Mr. Evan Tonsing

Emeritus Faculty of World Music
etonsing@brightok.net
405-744-6133
SCPA 009

Evan Tonsing has been teaching for 45 years, 40 of which he served in the Oklahoma State University Music Department teaching ‘cello, string bass, music theory, world music, composition, and 20th century music in addition to several other classes. Although he is a classical musician with degrees in ‘cello performance from the University of Kansas, his wide musical interests have led him to explore music of many styles and many countries.

Before his retirement he performed publicly over twenty times yearly in Oklahoma and other states. He has composed over one hundred compositions and arranged about 600 works, several of which are currently in print and performed throughout the United States and other countries. From 1962 to 1968 he served as principal ‘cellist of the Amarillo Symphony and Amarillo Symphony String Quartet and conducted the Amarillo Chamber Orchestra. In 1987 he was given a Distinguished Service Award for Programming by KOSU fm for co-hosting the “What in the World” series of broadcasts on music of non-European cultures. In 1998 he was named outstanding faculty member by the students of the Music Department at Oklahoma State University. In 1999 he was named teacher of the year by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American String Teachers Association.

Although he retired in 1998, he has continued to teach a class in traditional world music every semester at OSU in addition to teaching private lessons in ‘cello and working with several American Indian Nations on various projects to encourage preservation of their cultural heritage.