2009 National Choral Honors Project

Lawrence Kaptein

Lawrence Kaptein is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He conducts the highly acclaimed University Choir and the Colorado Conductors Chorus (a chamber ensemble composed exclusively of professional choral conductors in the Denver-Boulder area). Kaptein also teaches both graduate and undergraduate choral conducting. Choirs under his leadership have distinguished themselves at state, national, and international choral events throughout Europe and the United States: including the 1997 and 1991 ACDA national conventions, 1994 regional ACDA convention, 1992 Tolosa (Spain)International Choral Competition, and three European concert tours in 1998, 2001, and 2007.

Professor Kaptein has conducted honor choirs and presented choral music workshops throughout the US. In 1997 and 2008, he traveled to Korea at the invitation of the Ansan City government (their professional City Choir is under the direction of CU choral alumnus Shin-Hwa Park) to conduct concerts and present clinics and workshops for Korean collegiate institutions and professional choral organization. Professor Kaptein has published articles in the Choral Journal, American Choral Review, Bulletin of the International Federation of Choral Music, and Austrian Musikerziehung …sterreichischer Bundesverlag. His Selected List of Ethnic and Ethnically-Inspired Choral Repertoire has appeared in over twenty state choral music periodicals. He served as a major contributor to ÒThe Foundation of ArtistryÓ Ð an annotated listing of quality high school choral repertoire published in 2002 by the American Choral Directors Association. Kaptein is editor of the Lawrence Kaptein Choral Series published by Alliance Music of Houston, Texas.

He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral music from the University of Southern California, where he was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. Over the past several decades, Kaptein has been a champion of contemporary American composers and multicultural choral music. In 2007, Kaptein received the Marinus Smith Teaching Award from the University Parent’s Association.