Photo by Kevin Duffy
Russ Kaplan is a musical storyteller. A creatively restless composer and a versatile keyboardist, he’s at home in the worlds of musical theatre, jazz, rock, americana, world music and beyond.
As a theatre composer, Russ is one of the creators of Broadway's first a cappella musical In Transit. Beyond Broadway, his projects have included stage and media work with New York City Children’s Theater (Dory Fantasmagory, Dear Albert Einstein), The Elf On the Shelf (The Elf On the Shelf: A Christmas Musical, Elf Pets: Reindeer Rescue on Netflix, The Elf on the Shelf’s Night Before Christmas on YouTube), Bessie award-winning dance company Third Rail Projects, and scriptwriting work with the band Phish.
Russ is also an active keyboardist and bandleader. He has recorded two albums of original music (the jazz-fusion suite The Ulysses Cycle and the solo piano collection Lake Songs), both available on Ropeadope Records. For two years he led the concert series "Russ Kaplan's Broaday Jazz Session," featuring innovative takes on new and old Broadway standards with a who's who of fancy guest vocalists.
Russ teaches private rock/jazz piano lessons, and is available for piano and accordion session work, vocal coaching, music direction and audition prep sessions.