Search

Alexander Lapins, associate professor of tuba/euphonium, teaches applied tuba and euphonium, chamber music, brass pedagogy, and performs with the faculty brass quintet at the University of Tennessee School of Music. He is a founding member of Quintasonic Brass, and during the summer he serves as an instructor at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Lapins has also taught at Northern Arizona University, the University of Indianapolis, and Indiana State University.

Lapins has appeared as a soloist with orchestras, concert bands, and chamber groups. He has performed throughout the United States, China, South America, and Europe. A diverse performer, Lapins is the only tubist to have won fellowships at both the Tanglewood Music Center and the Henry Mancini Institute.

Lapins performed as principal tubist of several professional orchestras and brass quintets throughout Indiana, and was a first-call substitute/extra musician with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed with the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. Professor Lapins has also performed with the Disney Collegiate All-Star Band, the Guy Lombardo Orchestra, the New Sousa Band, and Harvey Phillips’ Tubacompany.

Lapins has extensive experience as a first-call studio musician. He can be heard on hundreds of recordings for Hal Leonard, Warner Brothers, Disney, Plank Road, Sacred Music Services, the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, SMS Brass Choir, and a variety of other record and publishing companies.

Lapins is devoted to expanding the repertoire of the tuba across all genres. An avid supporter of new music, Lapins has premiered dozens of new works and has been active in regularly commissioning new works for brass.

Lapins has been featured at regional and international ITEA conferences, the United States Army Band Tuba/Euphonium Workshops, National Association of Collegiate Wind and Percussion Instructors national conferences, and the International Women’s Brass Conferences. In 2011 he hosted the Southwest Regional ITEA conference at the NAU School of Music, and in 2016 he hosted ITEA’s International Tuba/Euphonium Conference at UT. He has presented guest recitals and master classes at many schools of music. Lapins’ books “Dueling Fundamentals for Two Tubas” (2018) and “Dueling Fundamentals for Two Euphoniums” (2019), advanced and engaging fundamentals exercises in two voices, are available from Mountain Peak Music. He is also author of the tuba chapter of MPM’s innovative hybrid text “Teaching Brass.”

Lapins has graduate degrees in music performance from Indiana University and the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in music industry from James Madison University. His principal teachers include Daniel Perantoni, Fritz Kaenzig, Kevin Stees, Tony Kniffen, and Mike Bunn. He has also studied with Gene Pokorny, David Fedderly, Jim Self, and Mike Roylance.

Lapins is a member of the International Tuba/Euphonium Association, the American Federation of Musicians, the National Association of Collegiate Wind and Percussion Instructors, and the International Women’s Brass Conference. He is a regular contributor to the ITEA Journal, and an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Alexander Lapins is an Eastman Music Instrument Company sponsored artist.