Melvin Kaplan

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Melvin ("Mel") Kaplan is a renowned American oboist, concert manager, and teacher at the Juilliard School for 25 years. He was for many years a featured performer and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His Burlington, Vermont-based booking agency represents such distinguished musicians as pianist Menahem Pressler and violinist Hamao Fujiwara, as well as various ensembles including the Amelia Piano Trio, the Pacifica Quartet, the Paris Piano Trio, and the Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet. Kaplan is a founding member of both the New York Chamber Soloists and the Festival Winds, though he is perhaps best known as Artistic Director of the Vermont Mozart Festival, which he cofounded in 1974 with William Metcalfe, a conductor and professor at the University of Vermont. He received the Governer's Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Vermont in 1990 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Vermont Arts Council in 1998.