At Victory on May 17, renowned cimbalom artist Laurence Kaptain helps a loveable lush tell his far-fetched war stories with composer Zoltán Kodály’s playful Háry János Suite.
Laurence (Larry) Kaptain, DMA and FRSA, is Dean, of the College of Arts & Media (CAM), and Professor of Music, Entertainment and Industry Studies, University of Colorado Denver. He brings 18 years of higher education leadership experience at leading public and private universities to this position. In his time at CU Denver, has been named to the National Advisory Board of the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), the Board of the Denver School of the Arts Friends Foundation, the Board of Opera Colorado, and is a voting member of The Recording Academy (the Grammy Awards).
Larry appears regularly with major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, and has recorded with the Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Czech National Symphony. He has also appeared, collaborated or recorded with artists such as Elvis Costello, Yo-Yo Ma, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Robert Altman, Rudolf Nureyev, Suzanne Farrell, Isaac Stern, Pierre Boulez, Elliot Carter, Gil Shaham, Suzanne Farrell, Kurt Masur, Henry Mancini, Donna McKechnie, Carol Channing and others. His recording of Stravinsky works with New York’s famed Orpheus ensemble won the 2001 Grammy Award for Small Classical Ensemble.
He received the first doctorate in percussion instruments at the University of Michigan, where he was a Fulbright Scholar to Mexico and received the prestigious Rackham Graduate School Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. His other degrees are from the University of Miami and Ball State University.
