Biography
Dave Eggar is as close to fixture at Surel’s Place as you can get. His performances have been such a hit in Boise — and his connections with local entities like the Idaho Fine Arts Academy so deep — that he is the only artist our review panelists welcomed back for multiple residences.
As the Surel’s Place 10th Anniversary Legacy Artist-in-Residence in 2022, Eggar helped create part of our anniversary celebration by pulling together the second ever performance of Ourself Behind Ourself, Concealed — a collection of chamber music pieces written by six of today’s most dynamic composers and performed by Eggar, clarinetist Tasha Warren, pianist Chad Spears, and percussionist Chuck Palmer. The musicians spent time at the Fine Arts Academy and the high school’s dancers played a key role in the Morrison Center performance, along with Lakota musician Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Boise’s acclaimed LED and Andrew Nemr, a former Surel’s Place resident who since moved to Boise and has partnered with the always-collaborative Eggar in the past. You can view the digital program here.
Eggar was a musical prodigy, performing on Broadway and at The Metropolitan Opera by age 7. Having trained as a classical cellist at The Julliard School and Harvard University, Eggar has gone on to perform across the globe, including concerto appearances at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, London’s Barbican Center, the Paris Opera, and the Hollywood Bowl. Eggar has performed and recorded with many artists across musical genres including Coldplay, Beyoncé, Ornette Coleman, Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift and Pete Seeger.
During his first residency, in August 2022, Eggar worked on two distinct projects aimed at engaging young students of cello — and performed a sold-out concert at the Visual Arts Collective in a collaboration with LED and musicians he brought in from Portland, Ore. At the end of the show, Eggar also introduced a young performer he met at the workshop he taught at Surel’s Place, 18-year-old Jared Nilo. Eggar later invited the young composer to New York City, where Nilo was able to record four of his original works with Eggar and other professional musicians.
Eggar was hooked on Boise.
“It was beyond a remarkable experience,” he said. “What blew me away was that unlike every other artist colony, it was a new beginning for me. Very quickly I was ushered into the amazing community of local Boise artists.”
In 2018, Eggar engaged Idaho composer Jim Cockey to write a new piece specifically for an ensemble that features cello, violin, classical guitar, percussion, and tap dance written into the score. He brought Palmer (who later became a resident himself and returned for the 10th Anniversary show) and others for a performance at the Sapphire Room at the Riverside Hotel, our close neighbor and frequent partner.