Growing up the youngest of three boys in the Bronx, one local musician says he thought he was destined to become a doctor.
Burton Kaplan says he always thought his life’s journey would take him to medical school and that one day he would become a psychiatrist. Although Kaplan did attend medical school for a brief time, he says his passion – and gift – for music led him on a different path.
Kaplan, an accomplished violinist, says his brothers and other family members also share in the musical talent; two play professionally and another is semi-professional.
As Kaplan matured, he says his future was open to him and because he was given the option to make choices for himself. At first, he didn’t know what he wanted to do at all. Kaplan went to Columbia College and then onto Albert Einstein Medical School for a semester before turning down the path that would evolve into his musical career.
Kaplan says he wanted to eventually freelance in New York City, but knew he couldn’t without experience in the field. Kaplan played with St. Louis Symphony for three years and for another year with the Cleveland Orchestra before heading to the Big Apple to make it on his own.
After arriving in New York City and freelancing with the New York City Opera Company and the American Symphony, Kaplan realized that coinciding with his passion to play, was his passion to teach.
Kaplan began giving lessons which he says he learned along with his students. “For the first 10 years, I felt I should be paying my students. I learned a lot from them,” said Kaplan.
Currently Kaplan wears many hats in the music industry, from teaching in New York City to giving private lessons at his very own musical retreat in nearby Morris. Kaplan teaches at Manhattan School of Music, New York University and in Queens at Aaron Copland’s school of music.
The retreat, located on 80 acres near Morris, was designed to provide artists a chance to dedicate themselves to their music in a bucolic summer setting. With no neighbors and a serene atmosphere, musicians as far as Denmark, Tokyo and Beijing have attended a two-week stay at the retreat known as Magic Mountain Music Farm. Kaplan opened the retreat in 1986 after closing a previous endeavor in Vermont a year before. The farm was open for business by August of 1987 and Kaplan says it housed up to 10 artists throughout the spring and summer.
Now 20 years later, Kaplan says his students stay are longer and with the additions to the property and house up to 12 people can stay at a time.
Kaplan says 40 years of his life has been devoted to music and he still finds two aspects of the art he feels forgotten. He says playing an instrument is more than just learning the notes. “Music is about knowing how to interpret it and bring it to life,” said Kaplan. Knowing how to be happy as you practice is another aspect Kaplan says musicians need to know is important.
“Music is a written language, but how it is brought, whether it be a voice or musical instrument -- it is how the player inflicts the sounds that brings it meaning,” he said.
Kaplan has written two books; one currently available pertains to practicing and the other expected out in October 2009 pertains to musical expression and will be accompanied by a DVD on which Kaplan will perform. He says players need not to play what is written, but to play what is imagined that is written. “Music is the art of illusion,” he said.
Kaplan and his wife Sally Ricketts, a professor with a masters degree in Viola from Juilliard, reside with their two children, Emma and Daniel, in Hanover, New Hampshire. Kaplan says he spends his weeks traveling between Hanover and New York City and his summers traveling to Morris. In his time spent teaching, Kaplan travels throughout the country and abroad to give “Performance Power” seminar workshops.

Editor’s Note: “Chenango Stories” puts the spotlight on those people whose compelling stories you might not otherwise hear. If you know someone who is interested in telling their “Chenango Story,” contact Jill Osterhout at 337-3075 or e-mail: josterhout@evesun.com.