Biography
"Kolby is a bright young composer who understands the voice well. His writing is fresh and his accompaniments are creative and beautiful."
- Dr. Jacob Narverud, composer -
Kolby Van Camp (b. 1999) is an American composer, conductor, and vocalist. A native of Kansas, Van Camp attended Kansas State University where he will graduate in 2022 with a Bachelor of Music Education (BME) and Bachelor of Music Composition (BM) double major.
As a professional chorister, Van Camp has sung with many regionally, nationally, and internationally acclaimed ensembles such as the Tallgrass Chamber Choir, KC VITAS, Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, and Kansas State University's Concert Choir, Collegiate Chorale, and Madrigal & Motet Ensemble of which he is a founding member. Van Camp actively tours and performs with ensembles, most notably touring Italy with Allegro Choirs of Kansas City in 2016, and with Concert Choir in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the 2018 SWACDA conference and in College Park, Maryland at the 2019 NCCO conference. Van Camp will also be touring England with Concert Choir in 2022. Van Camp has worked with prominent choral conductors such as Dr. Jacob Narverud, Dr. Joshua Oppenheim, Robert Shaw Award-winner Dr. André Thomas, and GRAMMY® Award winning composer, Eric Whitacre.
As a professional vocalist, Van Camp has performed all over the country, making his solo debut at the Weill Recital Hall in the Carnegie Complex in 2016. Van Camp was also a featured soloist with the Susanville Symphony, directed by Survivor personality Benjamin "Coach" Wade and with Kansas State University's performance of Mozart's Requiem in 2019, as well as in Concert Choir's Missa Eclectica: Requiem for Our Time in 2021. Van Camp has also won a host of different competitions including First Place at the American Fine Arts Festival's Golden Voices of America International Vocal Competition (2016) and was named a national quarter-semifinalist by the National Association for the Teachers of Singing (NATS) collegiate competition (2017, 2019, 2020). In 2020, Van Camp played the role of Elder McLean in Kansas State University's production of Carlyle Floyd's opera, Susannah. In 2021, he also played the roll of Signor Deluso in Thomas Pasatieri's opera buffa in one act, Signor Deluso. Also in 2021, he was awarded an undergraduate research grant by Kansas State University to allow him to create his first album of solo music entitled, All-American.
As a composer, Van Camp's works have been described as post-minimal and have been performed from the regional to national level, most notably with his piece In Flanders Fields being performed by Allegro Choirs of Kansas City at the 2019 National ACDA convention in Kansas City. Van Camp also gave a recital of his music entitled, An Evening of Art Song through Kansas State University in 2021. Van Camp primarily writes for voice, choir, and keyboard. Van Camp is also the president and co-founder of the desktop publishing company, Novus Music Publishing, Inc.
As a professional conductor, Van Camp has been the Director of Choral Music at First Lutheran Church of Manhattan, Kansas since 2018 and was appointed the director of Spirito, Allegro Choirs of Kansas City's premiere tenor-bass ensemble made up of 7th-12th grade voices for the 2020-2021 academic year. During this time, Allegro Choirs of Kansas City was one of only a handful of children's choirs that remained open and performed, to much success and acclaim, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
When not composing, conducting, or concertizing, Van Camp collects pocket watches, is a die-hard Kansas State football fan, and dabbles with broadcasting. In 2020 he was named "The Voice of the Saints" after becoming the play-by-play announcer for his high school alma mater's inaugural football team. In 2021, Van Camp also created and is host of a music commentary podcast called Musically Inclined. Lastly, Van Camp is an avid lover of animals and is the proud owner of a rescue cat named Willie.