Lawrence Kaptein

Director of Choral Music Studies

Email: kaptein@colorado.edu
Office Location: Room 107, Macky Auditorium
Office Phone: 303-492-8714
Mailing Address: 301 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0301

Lawrence Kaptein is Director of Choral Music Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He conducts the acclaimed University Singers and the Colorado Conductors Chorus (a chamber ensemble composed exclusively of professional choral conductors in the Denver-Boulder area).  Kaptein teaches graduate choral conducting and supervises the College's choral program. Under his leadership CU choirs 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 2006.

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 Österreichischer 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 “The Foundation of Artistry” – 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, multicultural choral music, and innovative approaches to programming. Kaptein has been the recipient of the Marinus Smith and Residence Life Excellence in Teaching awards.