Laurence Kaptain

Laurence Kaptain (b. 1952, Elgin, Illinois USA) 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 Murray Louis, Mikhail Baryshnikov and David Pogue.

Kaptain has collaborated with leading solo and chamber artists, including Dawn Upshaw, Gil Shaham, 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.

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