Dan Kapp founded the New Horizons Band of Toronto in 2010
In the Spring of 2010, Dan Kapp founded the New Horizons Band of Toronto. He became its first music director in September of that year. In 2016, he saw the group incorporated and established a Board of Directors. In 2018, he was named Director Emeritus upon his retirement from the NHBT as its Creative Director.
Dan holds an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Music Performance from York University, a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University, and Honours Specialist Certificates in Instrumental and Vocal Music from the University of Toronto. As a strong supporter of lifelong learning, Dan is now pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition at Acadia University.
Dan came to the project with over 30 years of professional teaching and conducting experience. He has taught instrumental classroom music, played trumpet and conducted in Canada, the U.S. and overseas.
When he was eight years old his father handed him a trumpet and said, “You are going to learn to play this, because I never had the chance”. Reluctantly, Dan said he would try and within 2 months, he was playing in the school band, its youngest member. That was the beginning of his life as a musician. In high school he encountered many others who shared his passion for making music. Music classes, bands, and choirs became his reason for getting up each morning and racing to school. For him, these groups were not only ways to make music but to also make friends.
Well into his teaching career, Dan was introduced to the New Horizons Music concept when he was invited to attend an evening “band class” in Peterborough, Ontario. He was so impressed by what he saw that he decided that night to start a NH band when he “retired”. When the time came, that’s what he did in Toronto.
Dan is very proud of having a key role in establishing the NHBT. He thanks the many people who supported it and the countless hours they invested in his dream – to create a safe and supportive environment where mature adults can come to make music and friends.
