Laurence Kaptain
Encyclopedia
Laurence Kaptain is an American symphonic cimbalom artist. Most recently he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic
and cellist Yo-Yo Ma
, a series of concerts with the Baltimore Symphony and pop artist/composer Elvis Costello
, Pittsburgh Symphony, and in collaboration with prominent Dutch composer Louis Andriessen
. In 2008 he performed on the Gala Opening Concert of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
He is currently Dean of the Louisiana State University
College of Music & Dramatic Arts, where he is also a faculty member in the School of Music. Until 2009, he served as Dean of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia—situated near Washington, D.C. From 2004-2006 he was director of the heralded Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.
During his time at Shenandoah Conservatory he appointed the Audubon Quartet as resident string quartet, and Irish pianist John O'Conor and trumpeter Jens LIndemann as distinguished visiting artists. He also award honorary doctorates to Mikhail Baryshnikov and David Pogue.
Kaptain has collaborated with leading solo and chamber artists, including Monica Germino
, Lucy Shelton
, Christina Zavalloni, John Jorgenson
, Gilles Apap
, Robert McDuffie
, and others.
He is heard regularly with the Minnesota Orchestra
, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been featured with the MET Chamber Players and the Ensemble Sospeso in Carnegie Hall
. In 1998 he appeared with the Chicago Symphony in 4 live concerts and a CD recording for DGG under Pierre Boulez
with violinist Gil Shaham
. He has also been heard at the Canada's DuMaurier Contemporary Music Festival and national broadcast on the CBC
, Tanglewood Music Center Contemporary Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Milwaukee Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra
, Detroit Symphony, as well as with the Montreal Symphony in a special video recording for Japan's NHK Television Network. He may be heard on the Teldec, London/Decca, Chandos
, Deutsche Grammophon
, Mark, Albany, and HWP Record labels, and has performed under James Levine, Pierre Boulez, the late Sir Georg Solti
, Neeme Järvi
, Hugh Wolff
, David Zinman
, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, James Conlon
, Alan Gilbert
, Reinbert DeLeew, H. Robert Reynolds, Leonard Slatkin
, Jonathan Sheffer, Kurt Masur
, Ivan Fisher
, Ádám Fischer
, Edo de Waart
, Charles Dutoit
, Kent Nagano
, Osmo Vänskä
, Hans Graf
, Christoph von Dohnányi
, Zuohuang Chen, Paul Gambill, Gilbert Varga and others.
Born to a father of Hungarian ancestry, Laurence Kaptain was exposed to the cimbalom at an early age by attending ethnic social functions in his hometown of Elgin, Illinois
. He became a noted symphonic/concert percussionist, was awarded a grant to study cimbalom in Budapest, Hungary and has appeared with major North American symphonic ensembles for over 25 years.
Kaptain was the first individual to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion instruments from the University of Michigan
and has served on the faculty of numerous outstanding conservatories and university music programs.
Discography
for the cimbalom artist Laurence Kaptain.
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
and cellist Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, a series of concerts with the Baltimore Symphony and pop artist/composer Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Pittsburgh Symphony, and in collaboration with prominent Dutch composer Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen
Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
. In 2008 he performed on the Gala Opening Concert of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
He is currently Dean of the Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
College of Music & Dramatic Arts, where he is also a faculty member in the School of Music. Until 2009, he served as Dean of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia—situated near Washington, D.C. From 2004-2006 he was director of the heralded Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.
During his time at Shenandoah Conservatory he appointed the Audubon Quartet as resident string quartet, and Irish pianist John O'Conor and trumpeter Jens LIndemann as distinguished visiting artists. He also award honorary doctorates to Mikhail Baryshnikov and David Pogue.
Kaptain has collaborated with leading solo and chamber artists, including Monica Germino
Monica Germino
Monica Germino is an American violinist based in the Netherlands.She is primarily a soloist, but she sometimes performs as part of an ensemble. She has worked with many composers, including Louis Andriessen, Martin Bresnick, John Cage, Michael Gordon, György Ligeti, and Christian Wolff. She has...
, Lucy Shelton
Lucy Shelton
Lucy Shelton is an American soprano best known for her performance of contemporary music. She graduated from The Putney School in 1961 and Pomona College in 1965.-External links:* musician profile...
, Christina Zavalloni, John Jorgenson
John Jorgenson
John Jorgenson is a US musician. Although best known for his guitar work with bands such as the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, Jorgenson is also proficient in the mandolin, mandocello, Dobro, pedal steel, piano, upright bass, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone...
, Gilles Apap
Gilles Apap
Gilles Apap is a French violinist who plays Romani music, swing, Irish music, and bluegrass music, as well as the masterpieces of classical music....
, Robert McDuffie
Robert McDuffie
Robert McDuffie is an internationally renowned violinist. He has played as a soloist with many of the major orchestras around the world including those of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minnesota, Houston, St...
, and others.
He is heard regularly with the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been featured with the MET Chamber Players and the Ensemble Sospeso in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. In 1998 he appeared with the Chicago Symphony in 4 live concerts and a CD recording for DGG under Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
with violinist Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham
-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...
. He has also been heard at the Canada's DuMaurier Contemporary Music Festival and national broadcast on the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, Tanglewood Music Center Contemporary Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Milwaukee Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
, Detroit Symphony, as well as with the Montreal Symphony in a special video recording for Japan's NHK Television Network. He may be heard on the Teldec, London/Decca, Chandos
Chandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
, Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
, Mark, Albany, and HWP Record labels, and has performed under James Levine, Pierre Boulez, the late Sir Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
, Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi is an Estonian-born conductor.-Early life:Järvi studied music first in Tallinn, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others...
, Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff is an American conductor.He was born in Paris while his father was serving in the U. S. Foreign Service, then spent his primary-school years in London. He received his higher education at Harvard and at Peabody Conservatory...
, David Zinman
David Zinman
David Zinman is an American conductor and violinist.After early violin studies at the Oberlin Conservatory, Zinman studied theory and composition at the University of Minnesota and took up conducting at Tanglewood...
, Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
, Alan Gilbert
Alan Gilbert
Alan David Gilbert AO, was a historian and academic administrator who was until June 2010 the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester....
, Reinbert DeLeew, H. Robert Reynolds, Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
, Jonathan Sheffer, Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
, Ivan Fisher
Ivan Fisher
Ivan S. Fisher is a prominent New York criminal defense attorney. He represents white-collar clients and others targeted or charged in complex federal matters.As a young lawyer, Fisher represented the writer Jack Abbott in a murder trial...
, Ádám Fischer
Ádám Fischer
Ádám Fischer is a Hungarian conductor of Jewish family origin. He is the general music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, with which he has recorded the complete Haydn symphonies for the Nimbus label, the first digital recording of the cycle...
, Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart is a Dutch conductor, and the Music Director of both the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra....
, Charles Dutoit
Charles Dutoit
Charles Édouard Dutoit, is a Swiss conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of French and Russian 20th century music...
, Kent Nagano
Kent Nagano
__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...
, Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Vänskä
Osmo Antero Vänskä is a Finnish conductor, clarinetist and composer.He started his musical career as an orchestral clarinetist with the Turku Philharmonic . He then became the principal clarinet of the Helsinki Philharmonic from 1977 to 1982...
, Hans Graf
Hans Graf
Hans Graf is an Austrian conductor.As a child, Graf learned the violin and the piano. He studied at the Musikhochschule in Graz, Austria, and graduated with diplomas in piano and conducting. He also participated in conducting master classes with Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Arvīds Jansons...
, Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi
Christoph von Dohnányi is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry.- Youth and World War II :Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist...
, Zuohuang Chen, Paul Gambill, Gilbert Varga and others.
Born to a father of Hungarian ancestry, Laurence Kaptain was exposed to the cimbalom at an early age by attending ethnic social functions in his hometown of Elgin, Illinois
Elgin, Illinois
Elgin is a city in northern Illinois located roughly northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. Most of Elgin lies within Kane County, Illinois, with a portion in Cook County, Illinois...
. He became a noted symphonic/concert percussionist, was awarded a grant to study cimbalom in Budapest, Hungary and has appeared with major North American symphonic ensembles for over 25 years.
Kaptain was the first individual to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion instruments from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and has served on the faculty of numerous outstanding conservatories and university music programs.
Discography
Discography
Discography is the study and listing of the details concerning sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified musical genres...
for the cimbalom artist Laurence Kaptain.
Albums
- • Suite from Hary Janos (Kodály), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi, conductor (solo cimbalom). Recorded February, 1990 (released Spring, 1991). Chandos (CHAN 8877)..
- • Suite from Hary Janos (Kodály), St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, conductor (solo cimbalom). Recorded February, 1993 (released November, 2007). AAM 070106
- • Suite from Hary Janos (Kodály), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, conductor (solo cimbalom). Recorded November, 1993. U.S. release (11/94): Mephisto Magic (London/Decca 443 444-2), European release (10/94): The Hungarian Connection (Decca 443 444-2).
- • Renard, Ragtime (Stravinsky), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolff, music director. Teldec 4509-94548-2.
- • Bartók Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra. Chicago Symphony, Pierre Boulez, Principal Guest Conductor with Gil Shaham, violin. CD recording for Deutsche Grammophon DGG 289 459 639-2. 2000.
- • Ragtime (Stravinsky), Orpheus Chamber Ensemble (New York City), Deutsche Grammophon, 289 453458-2. 2001
- • Bartók Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Orchestra. Chicago Symphony, Pierre Boulez, Principal Guest Conductor with Gil Shaham, violin. CD recording for Deutsche Grammophon DGG 289 459 639-2. 2000.
Non-fiction
- The Wood that Sings: The Marimba in Chiapas, Mexico. Kaptain, Laurence D.. "The Wood That Sings": The Marimba in Chiapas, Mexico. Everett, Pennsylvania: Honeyrock, 1992. Print.
- Laurence Kaptain Administrative Portfolio," The Administrative Portfolio. A Practical Guide to Improved Administrative Performance and Personnel Decisions (with Peter Seldin and Mary Lou Higgerson) Higgerson, Mary Lou, and Peter Seldin. The Administrative Portfolio: A Practical Guide to Improved Administrative Performance and Personnel Decisions (JB - Anker). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002. Print.
- Maderas que cantanl Kaptain, Laurence. Maderas que cantan (Nuestros pueblos) (Spanish Edition). Tuxtla Gutíerrez: Gobierno Del Estado De Chiapas, Consejo Estatal De Fomento A La Investigacion Y Diifusion De La Cultura, 1991. Print.