Laurence Kaptain

Who is Laurence Kaptain?

Laurence Kaptain is an American symphonic cimbalom artist. He has served as 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. From 2004-2006 he was director of the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

Born to a father of Hungarian ancestry, Kaptain was exposed to the cimbalom at an early age at ethnic social functions in his hometown of Elgin, Illinois and later was awarded a grant to study cimbalom in Budapest, Hungary. He 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 several conservatories and university music programs.

Kaptain has collaborated with many solo and chamber artists, including Dawn Upshaw, Gil Shaham, Monica Germino, Lucy Shelton, John Jorgenson, Gilles Apap and Robert McDuffie. He is heard regularly with the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as the St.