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Bio
Ray Evans Harrell (Artistic Director, conductor, director, master teacher and performer) has performed in, collaborated on and coached for projects that have received the Oscar, Tony, Obie, Grammy, Drama Critics, ASCAP, Golden Globe, Canadian Film Festival and Dramatist Guild Awards. Mr. Harrell has assisted with and performed on recordings on the Angel, London, Jive, Disneyland Records, Sony classics, Newport Classic, Opus One, Leonarda, Spectrum, Decca, Premier, MTM, Vox Cum Laud, Phillips KIC, DARP, and Jomba labels. He is also a soloist on the Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass film Naqoyqatsi and the recording of David Friedman's prize-winning Christmas Oratorio "King Island Christmas," produced by 12-time Grammy winner Thomas Z. Shepard.

For over 33 years, Mr. Harrell has been a problem-solving consultant on major performance projects. His expertise has been utilized to solve creative, economic and performance issues centering around cultural and gender stereotyping in projects such as: "Pocahontas", "Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Carmen", and "The Last Temptation of Christ" as well as numerous Native American recordings and performances. A native Oklahoman and a Cherokee Indian, he is also a noted lecturer on Native American matters at the United Nations, Auburn and Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University Teacher's College Ph.D. program, New York City's Museum of Natural History, various universities and colleges across the country, and arts and economics councils in Canada and on the Internet. From 1978-1986 his Composer's and Performer's Workshop, with assisting composer Kenneth K. Guilmartin at Manhattan School of Music, were the most profitable in the school's adjunct programs.

Mr. Harrell is a pioneer and producer in the development of American Chamber Opera companies and projects. He is the founder and artistic director of the "Magic Circle Opera Repertory Ensemble, Inc." of New York, America's first full-time, multi-cultural chamber opera ensemble and the "Magic Circle Training Program." For over 25 years his innovative and creative concepts have widened the world of American Chamber Opera. He has developed and conducted four Magic Circle Opera performance ensembles, a Flamenco opera company, five new, complete operas with notables like Kurt Vonnegut and numerous Magic Circle Opera recordings including "A Childhood Miracle," and "Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters" by Ned Rorem on the Newport Classic label and Kurt Vonnegut's humanist requiem "Stone, Time and Elements."

In 2003-2004 he was the Artistic Director and Producer of "The American Master's Arts Festival" in New York that honored the composer Ned Rorem with ten concerts on his 80th Birthday. Included in the Festival was a conference on the historical problems of the Arts in America with suggested solutions. The conference had experts from around nation including economist William Baumol, System's expert John N. Warfield as well as musicologists, performing artists and the master virtuoso organist Gregory D'Agostino.

He is featured in the International Who's Who in Music and Musician's Directory,the Who's Who in the Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. He is a retired member of the Screen Actor's Guild, The American Guild of Musical Artists, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity. Mr. Harrell is a member of the Interactive Management Community and is included in their Who's Who. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World and has made his living solely in the private sector since leaving academic appointments 20 years ago.
"I never liked being institutionalized and still don't."