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Unlv Professor Caplan Has New Cd Released

17/02/2000

LAS VEGAS -- Stephen Caplan, a professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a member of the acclaimed chamber music ensemble Sierra Winds, has a new solo CD just released titled "A Tree in Your Ear" on the Musicians Showcase Recordings label.

The CD celebrates landscapes remembered by the sounds of frogs, crickets, and coyotes on Phillip Bimstein's "Half Moon at Checkerboard Mesa," the folk music orchestrated by William Grant Still in "Miniatures," the music "Koke No Niwa" by Alan Hovhaness and "Saltwater Blues" by Yusef Lateef, as well as landscapes imagined in "Orpheus Singing " by Virko Baley and "Sonic Landscapes" by Mark Phillips. Each selection borrows liberally from either popular or folk musical idioms.

This particular CD is also unique because it features a dazzling variety of styles, including jazz, new age, and classical.

Winner of his second Nevada Arts Council Fellowship this year, Caplan is a perfect example of a West Coast artist thriving by working with other composers in the region. His latest recording "A Tree in Your Ear" includes four works by composers linked to the West, such as the legendary William Grant Still who resided in Los Angeles, Alan Hovhaness, a well-respected Seattle composer, nationally acclaimed composer Virko Baley from Las Vegas, and pathblazer Phillip Kent Bimstein from Utah.

Principal oboist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Caplan also plays in orchestras accompanying popular "superstars" on the Las Vegas Strip. Acclaimed recitals throughout the United States, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, and Europe have established Stephen Caplan as a first-rate oboist and passionate advocate of new music.

A member of the Sierra Winds, Caplan has been featured on three critically acclaimed recordings and has been recipient of numerous awards, including the Nevada Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Caplan's spring schedule includes premiers of two new works, one by Las Vegas composer Walter Blanton, the other by jazz pianist Stefan Karlsson. His concert schedule includes March 2?the Sierra Winds and "All That Jazz" with the Stefan Karlsson Trio at UNLV, March 30?Stephen Caplan with Walter Blanton, trumpet, at the Nevada Art Museum in Reno, March 31?Stephen Caplan recital with Walter Blanton, trumpet, at Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, April 19?Stephen Caplan recital at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, CA, April 24 Sierra Winds at Logandale, NV August 1?Sierra Winds at the Redlands Bowl, Redlands, CA.

For a sample of soundclips from his CD "A Tree in Your Ear", contact http:www.unlv.edu/programs/oboe/sctreeear.html.

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