[4] While an undergraduate he was a finalist in the 1965 Texas state division of the National Association of Teachers of Singing vocal competition; competing as Joey Evans.
[7] After completing his undergraduate degree, Evans lived in Dallas where he was a paid tenor at Temple Emanu-El and the assistant director of music at Highland Park Presbyterian Church.
[10] He performed as the tenor soloist in numerous amateur to semi-professional presentations of the Messiah in Texas and Louisiana in the succeeding years, including at Northwestern State University.
[18] He portrayed Beppe in the FWO's 1974 production of Pagliacci with William Lewis as Canio, Louis Quilico as Tonio, and Heather Thomson as Nedda.
[21][22] In the mid 1960s he performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in concerts of Zoltán Kodály's Psalmus Hungaricus and Darius Milhaud's Miracles of Faith.
Hugo Adler's 1937 oratorio Akedah was written on the subject, but its score was lost after being confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis just prior to its scheduled premiere in Stuttgart.
He made his debut with the ONE on November 16, 1974 as Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Joann Yockey as Cio-Cio-San and Christopher Keene conducting.
He sang in the United States' premieres of multiple operas with the OCOB, including parts in Benvenuto Cellini (1975, as Francesco)[28] Roger Sessions's Montezuma (1976, as Pedro de Alvarado),[29] Mikhail Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (1977 as Bayan),[30] and Stolzius in Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten (1982).
[31][32] Other parts he sang with OCOB included Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1975),[33] Jaquino in Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio,[33] Macduff in Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth (1976),[30] Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème (1976–1977),[34] the Duke of Mantua in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (1977),[35] Pluto in Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld (1977),[36][37] Fenton in Flastaff (1979),[38] Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville (1979 and 1985),[39][40] Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (1979 and 1984),[39][41] Prince Anatole Kuragin in Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace (1980),[42] Pollione in Norma (1983),[43] Cavaradossi in Tosca (1986),[44] Ernesto in Don Pasquale (1978[45] and 1987),[46] and Jason in Luigi Cherubini's Médée (1988).
[2] Other roles he performed with NYCO included Captain Tarnitz in Sigmund Romberg's The Student Prince (1980),[55] Gabriel von Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus (1981),[56] Nadir in Georges Bizet's The Pearl Fishers (1981),[57] Roberto in Maria Stuarda (1981),[58] Uldino in Verdi's Attila (1981),[58] Rikard in Song of Norway (1981),[59] Alfredo in La traviata (1982),[60] and Vicomte Camille de Rosillon in Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow (1982),[61][62] and the Prince in Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (1981 and 1986).
[58][63] In 1976 Evans made his debut at Carnegie Hall as the tenor soloist in Antonín Dvořák's cantata The American Flag in a concert with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Cornell University Glee Club and Chorus under conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.
[65] In 1981 he was tenor soloist in Gustav Mahler's cantata Das klagende Lied with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra being conducted by Julius Rudel at Carnegie Hall.
[70] Other parts he sang with the San Diego Opera included Don Ottavio in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni (1977),[71] Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte (1978),[72] The Prince in Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges (1978 and 1981),[72][71] Laertes in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet (1978),[72] the title role in Charles Gounod's Faust (1981),[73] and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (1982).
In 1979 Evans portrayed Alfred in Die Fledermaus with the Chautauqua Opera in Upstate New York;[71] having previously performed with that company as Rodolfo La bohème in 1975[74] and in the title role of Britten's Albert Herring in 1977.
[75] In 1982 he sang the role of the priest Eumolpe Igor Stravinsky's mélodrame Perséphone with the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and the orchestra and chorus of the NYCO;[76] a work which was filmed and broadcast on PBS's Great Performances in February 1983.
[86] In August 1985 he portrayed the role of Nicky in the world premiere of Richard Wargo's The Seduction of a Lady at the Lake George Opera Festival,[87] and was also heard there as The Servant in Dominick Argento's The Boor.
[88] In December 1985 he made his debut at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in Switzerland as Caprice in Offenbach's Le voyage dans la lune; a production which was filmed for television.
[89] On January 12, 1986, Evans performed the world premiere of Samuel Adler's song cycle Unholy Sonnets in Palm Beach, Florida.
[94] In December 1989 he sang the role of Max in Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz under conductor Peter Hirsch at the Welsh National Opera.
[1] In September 1991 he made his debut with the English National Opera at the London Coliseum as Rodolfo in La bohème under conductor Guido Ajmone-Marsan with Vivian Tierney as Mimì.
[109][110] The following October he performed in another world premiere at the HGO, portraying General García in Daniel Catán's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies.