Laurence Kaptain is widely heard as a percussionist, marimba, and cimbalom (the
Hungarian dulcimer) artist.
Most recently he has been featured 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 recently 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, as well as with the Montreal Symphony in a special video recording for Japan's NHK Television Network. He has also appeared with the San Antonio, Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Syracuse, Rochester, New World, Kansas City and St. Louis Symphonies, the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, New York Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus, and the Summit Brass.
He may be heard on the Teldec, London/Decca, Chandos, Deutsche Grammophon, Mark, Albany, and HWP Record labels.
In the area of contemporary music, he has collaborated and worked directly under the supervision of composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen (including a European tour and recording for DGG), Leslie Bassett, Bernard Rands, Henri Dutilleux, Karel Husa, James Mobberley, Michael Daugherty, and many others.
Dr. Kaptain is author of "The Wood That Sings:" The Marimba in Chiapas, Mexico, which has been published in Mexico in Spanish translation by the state government of Chiapas, and in English by HoneyRock.
As a solo marimba artist, Kaptain has received critical acclaim for his seven concert tours of Latin America. He has served as a judge for four of the Annual State Marimba Competitions in the State of Chiapas, and has also lectured at various conferences throughout Mexico.
He leads the Mexican ethnic ensemble, Marimba Yajalón, a group that has received acclaim or their 4 CD recordings as well as tours throughout the Americas and Europe.
In December of 1999 he was a featured performer, adjudicator, and lecturer at the First International Festival of the Marimbist in Chiapas, Mexico.
A former Fulbright Scholar to Mexico, he holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan where he studied with Michael Udow and Charles Owen. His bachelors and masters degrees are from Ball State University and the University of Miami where he studied with Dr. Erwin Mueller and Fred Wickstrom. He also studied with the late James Lane, Duane Thamm, G. Allan O'Connor, and George McNabney.
Dr. Kaptain is presently Professor of Percussion at the Conservatory of Music of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, a National Performing Artist for YAMAHA Corporation of America, as well as a clinician for the Avedis Zildjian Co. He was awarded the UMKC Conservatory of Music Muriel Kauffman Excellence in Teaching Award, named Outstanding Alumnus of the Ball State University School of Music, and the University of Kansas City Trustees named him a Faculty Fellow.
Musical Director
Marimba Yajalón
Symphonic Cimbalom Artist
Coordinator and Project Director
Música Mexicana: On both sides of the border
Telephone 816.235.2950
E-mail Laurence D. Kaptain
For further details, see Laurence D. Kaptain
See also the following sites:
www.umkc.edu/marimba
www.umkc.edu/musica
www.umkc.edu/percusion
cctr.umkc.edu/user/lkaptain/cimbalom.html