A frequent audience member at local jazz concerts, Sid Kaplan became connected to the Peabody Institute when he met renowned trumpeter Sean Jones, the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies, during a performance at a small venue in Washington, D.C. Kaplan, a former high school band and jazz ensemble director at a Connecticut high school, chatted with Jones between sets. He recalls being impressed that Jones encourages his students to compose and perform original pieces and to make an impact with their music.
A frequent audience member at local jazz concerts, Sid Kaplan became connected to the Peabody Institute when he met renowned trumpeter Sean Jones, the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies, during a performance at a small venue in Washington, D.C. Kaplan, a former high school band and jazz ensemble director at a Connecticut high school, chatted with Jones between sets. He recalls being impressed that Jones encourages his students to compose and perform original pieces and to make an impact with their music.
“The nature of jazz is very democratic: You have to listen carefully in a jazz ensemble, and everybody gets a chance to contribute,” says Kaplan, who studied the clarinet, saxophone, and music education at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. “At Peabody, Sean and the other instructors are really focused on the creativity of the students and on developing the whole person. They talk about how the students will develop meaningful lives and how their lives will connect to their art.”
Shortly after this introduction, Kaplan, who also spent 30 years as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, became an enthusiastic supporter of Peabody’s Jazz Studies program. Most recently, he provided funding for six students and six faculty members, including Jones, to attend the 2026 Jazz Education Network (JEN) conference in New Orleans, which bills itself as “part music festival, part networking, part education and all inspiration.”
“My favorite thing about JEN is being able to connect with old friends and being able to make new friends, while also immersing ourselves in the power of forwarding our love for this music,” says Maggie Kinney, a graduate student in Jazz Voice who performed with Peabody’s Graduate Jazz Ensemble at the conference.
“Every now and then, an angel appears to help facilitate your vision, a brilliant light that comes along to help you institute your vision,” Jones adds. “Sid Kaplan is that angel for the Peabody Jazz Department and we are eternally grateful for his support and love.”
Kaplan saw firsthand the benefits of events like jen for students during his own travel experiences when he took his high school jazz ensemble to regional jazz conferences. “Young players learn a lot from interacting not only with the professionals who are judges and who lead the meetings and master classes, but from interacting with other students across many communities,” he says.
“Whenever I travel, part of the itinerary is that I always try to seek out what’s going on musically. It’s a great way to learn about the culture,” he adds. Over his long U.S. Foreign Service career, he was stationed in many countries, including England, the Philippines, and Turkey, as well as Mauritania. He recalls being most captivated by Turkey, where he made time to immerse himself in the country’s music, from Turkish indigenous folk music to opera. He does the same as an independent traveler: On a recent trip to Tunisia, he attendeda master class of indigenous Tunisian music, which uses the oud (lute), mizwad (bagpipes) and darbuka (percussion).
Now Kaplan, who will travel to Spain and Italy this year, is happy to support young musicians in having the same learning opportunities. “Our young people are becoming our newest citizens, our voters of tomorrow, the people who will continue to develop and fully realize the potential of America, and the arts and music in particular need to be a part of that framework,” he says. “I’m glad to support students in continuing to develop along this way of thinking.”