Eric M. Laprade, Summer Music Festival Managing Director & Artistic Partner
A dedicated and passionate conductor, educator, and arts leader, Eric Laprade serves as Managing Director & Artistic Partner, and Festival Wind Ensemble conductor of South Shore Conservatory’s Summer Music Festival (Hingham, MA). In addition, he serves as the Director of South Shore Conservatory’s SMF Teaching Academy, SSC Transform Initiative, and Sinta Quartet Institute. He also serves as Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at The College of New Jersey, where he conducts the wind ensemble and teaches courses in conducting, rehearsal techniques, and instrumental literature. Previously, he served as the Visiting Director of Wind Ensembles at The University of Utah, Managing Editor of the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research at the Eastman School of Music, and as Music Department Chairperson and Instrumental Music Teacher for the Randolph, MA Public Schools.
Laprade has conducted many of the nations premier wind bands, including The Eastman Wind Ensemble, The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, University of Michigan Symphony Band, and Manhattan School of Music Wind Ensemble. Recent conducting engagements include performances of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat as part of the Duxbury Music Festival and South Shore Conservatory’s Evenings Under the Stars series. An ardent supporter of new music, he has conducted world-premieres by such notable composers as Steve Danyew, Dr. Rollo Dilworth, Dr. Sally Lamb McCune, Dr. Nkeiru Okoye, and others. A recipient of the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize, as a doctoral student at the Eastman School of Music Laprade served as assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Eastman Harmonie, and associate conductor of the Eastman Wind Orchestra. He served as assistant conductor on international tours to Europe and Canada and was a guest conductor for OSSIA New Music, the Rochester Music Hall of Fame, and Sunset Concerts.
Laprade is passionate about nurturing the next generation of music educators. In 2018, he developed and launched the SMF Teaching Academy, a summer fellowship-program for pre-service music education students. Since its inception, the program has mentored over 20 fellows from some of the nation’s finest music schools. Laprade has been a clinician at schools throughout the United States and has served as the guest conductor of for multiple performances of the Commonwealth Wind Symphony, Manhattan School of Music Wind Ensemble, Eastern Wind Symphony Youth Band, and the 2022 Pennsbury District Honor Band, 2021 Massachusetts Music Educators Southeastern District Concert Band, 2020 Woodbridge New Jersey Honor Band, 2019 Port Washington District Band Festival, 2018 Massachusetts Music Educators Central District Junior Concert Band, 2017 Massachusetts Music Educators Western District Senior Concert Band, 2017 Augustana College Honor Band.
Laprade’s scholarly-creative work focuses on reimagining pedagogical possibilities and methods within the large-ensemble setting, and fostering new models of interdisciplinary collaboration and creativity. He is a member of TCNJ’s The Artivism Project, having contributed to the project’s Springs Eternal and Weather initiatives. At South Shore Conservatory, as the recipient of the first Kathy Czerny Innovation Fund Award, he developed and launched SSC Transform, a multi-faceted initiative aimed at reimagining the role of music education in our modern society. Laprade has presented his work at the New Jersey Music Educators Association Conference, Massachusetts Music Educators Association Conference, New York State Band Directors Association Summer Conference, the College Band Directors National and Eastern Conferences, Art+ Social Change Conference, and at numerous school district professional development days. Laprade is also a contributing author to the Eastman Case Studies series, having published cases profiling the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School, Carnegie Hall, University Musical Society, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and South Shore Conservatory.
Laprade holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in conducting and Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music in wind conducting from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music in music education and tuba performance from the Eastman School of Music, where he was the recipient of the school’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate. His principal conducting teachers include Mark Davis Scatterday, Michael Haithcock, and Malcolm W. Rowell, Jr. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and holds honorary memberships in Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Laprade is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, National Association for Music Education, and College Music Society.