15 Orient

Skip Laplante (b.1951) lives and works in New York. He is perhaps most well known for his role as a longtime member of the Gamelon Son of Lion, a new music repertory ensemble specializing in contemporary pieces written for the instruments of the Javanese gamelan. Founded in 1976, Son of Lion is one of the oldest continuous gamelan orchestras in the United States. Laplante received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Princeton University in 1973 and moved into a loft in New York in 1975. Shortly thereafter, he formed ‘Music for Handmade Instruments’ with Carole Weber.

Notable exhibitions include: “American Musical Instruments and Their Makers”, Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1977.