Stephen Caplan - Musician of the Month

Stephen Caplan is Professor of Oboe at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and also serves as Principal Oboist of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Sierra Winds. In the summer he performs and teaches at the Orfeo Music Festival in the Italian Alps. His solo recording of American music for oboe and English horn, A Tree In Your Ear, has received international acclaim and includes the premier recording of Phillip Bimstein's Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa for oboe, frogs, crickets and coyotes, which was written for Caplan with a grant from the Meet the Composer Foundation. Fanfare describes it as "sublime" and Double Reed News writes, "beautifully played..it is hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this CD."

Caplan's performances have been heard at venues such as the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras including the Arctic Chamber Orchestra, Festival Orchestra of Chernigov (Ukraine), Las Vegas Philharmonic, New Orleans Philharmonic, and the Oregon Symphony. His performances have been heard on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and Performance Today. This past year he played in orchestras seen on the Latin Grammys, televised internationally, and the PBS presentation 50 Years of Michel Legrand, also released on DVD and CD. Caplan is the only musical performer to win the Nevada Arts Council's prestigious Artist Fellowship three times. He has worked with many of classical music's biggest stars, including Luciano Pavarotti and Hilary Hahn, as well as popular superstars on the Las Vegas Strip. With the Sierra Winds, Caplan performs on five critically acclaimed recordings and has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Nevada Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. He has given master classes at many of the leading music schools in the country. His book, Oboemotions: What Every Oboe Player Needs to Know About the Body, recently published by GIA Publications, has been described as "the operating manual for oboists."
Caplan is an active member of the arts community in the Southwest and has served as a panelist for the Nevada Arts Council and the Western States Arts Federation. He has been a member of several local boards and presently serves on the Board of the Nevada Arts Council. He is President of Class Act, an organization that sponsors arts performances throughout Clark County and reaches over 100,000 children annually. Caplan lives in Henderson, Nevada with his wife and three daughters.