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 is something rare. His music so effectively invites an audience to not only listen, but feel, while simultaneously displaying the utmost compositional intelligence. It is a true honor for me to be able to call this incredible talent one of my greatest friends."
- Jesse Kaiser, composer -
Kolby Van Camp (b. 1999, ASCAP) is an American composer, conductor, educator, and chorister native of Kansas. Van Camp’s love and most extensive training rests in the art of choral music. As a chorister, Van Camp has performed with nationally and internationally recognized and award winning ensembles such as The Lawrence Children’s Choir, Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, Cornerstone Family Schools, (Van Camp’s high school alma mater), MidAmerica Nazarene University, The Tallgrass Chamber Choir, KC VITAS, and Kansas State University. In working with these ensembles, Van Camp is privileged to list Janeal Krehbiel, Carolyn Welch, Pam Bushouse, Dorothy Iliff, Dr. Jacob Narverud, Christy Elsner, Dr. Christopher Smith, Dr. Julie Yu-Oppenheim, and Dr. Joshua J. Oppenheim among the people who have helped and continue to help train him in the arts of choral singing, composing, and conducting.
Since 2007, Van Camp holds an impressive resumé of awards and concertizing, including eight national titles (six choral, two solo vocal) at the American Association of Christian Schools (AACS) national competition, Grand Prize in the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) Golden Voice International Competition, national quarter semi-finalist (2017, 2019) in the National Association of the Teachers of Singing (NATS) collegiate competition, and the Topeka Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Awards. Van Camp’s concert accolades include performances in Carnegie Hall, the Mormon Tabernacle and LDS Conference Center, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Pantheon, and the ancient amphitheater of Pompeii. Van Camp has additionally performed with award winning conductors and ensembles such as the GRAMMY® Award winning Minnesota Orchestra, GRAMMY® Award winning composer and conductor Eric Whitacre, Robert Shaw-Award winning educator Dr. André Thomas, the 2015 and 2017 American Choral Directors Association National Mixed High School Honor Choir, the 2015 and 2016 Kansas Choral Directors Association All-State Men’s Honor Choir, a 2016 Southwest American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA) regional conference concert opener with Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, a 2016 tour of Italy with Allegro con Spirito, also of Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, a 2018 SWACDA conference performance and 2019 key-note performance at the bi-annual National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) national conference with Kansas State University's Concert Choir, and a 2019 performance with the Susanville Symphony. As a recording artist, Van Camp currently sings with two professional ensembles: the Tallgrass Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr. Jacob Narverud and KC VITAS, Kansas City's premiere new music ensemble, under the direction of Jackson Thomas. Van Camp also frequently collaborates with fellow musicians, students, and faculty at Kansas State to record collections of his art songs and choral works.
Van Camp is currently studying choral conducting and methods with Dr. Julie Yu-Oppenheim and Dr. Joshua J. Oppenheim at Kansas State University. Under Dr. Oppenheim’s direction, Van Camp sings in Kansas State’s top chamber ensemble, Concert Choir. Van Camp has also taken a new interest in early music, participating in Kansas State's large early music ensemble under the direction of David Wood, Collegium Musicum. Van Camp was also a founding member of Kansas State's Madrigal and Motets: an ensemble which specializes in the historical performance of early music in the smallest chamber setting, usually involving only one person on each part. Van Camp was also named the president of the Kansas State Early Music Society in 2020.
Van Camp is also studying operatic vocal techniques with GRAMMY® Award and EMMY® Award winning vocalist and Kansas State faculty member, Dr. Bryan Pinkall. As a solo vocalist, Van Camp has learned challenging repertoire from numerous genres and time periods, performing art song, oratorio, and operatic literature, including pieces from Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elija, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and Mozart's Don Giovanni. Currently, Van Camp specializes in the performance of contemporary art song, learning pieces from composers such as Tom Cipullo, Viktor Ullmann, Steven Mark Kohn, Alfred Schnittke, and Lori Laitman, as well as classic art songs and lieder from celebrated composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann. In 2016, Van Camp was a first place winner in the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) which culminated in an honors recital in the Weill Recital Hall in the Carnegie Complex in New York City. In 2019, Van Camp was a featured guest soloist with the Susanville Symphony and a featured soloist in Mozart's Requiem (completed by Robert Levin) with Kansas State University's Grand Chorus and orchestra.
Van Camp is also studying operatic vocal techniques with GRAMMY® Award and EMMY® Award winning vocalist and Kansas State faculty member, Dr. Bryan Pinkall. As a solo vocalist, Van Camp has learned challenging repertoire from numerous genres and time periods, performing art song, oratorio, and operatic literature, including pieces from Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elija, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, and Mozart's Don Giovanni. Currently, Van Camp specializes in the performance of contemporary art song, learning pieces from composers such as Tom Cipullo, Viktor Ullmann, Steven Mark Kohn, Alfred Schnittke, and Lori Laitman, as well as classic art songs and lieder from celebrated composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert, and Robert Schumann. In 2016, Van Camp was a first place winner in the American Fine Arts Festival (AFAF) which culminated in an honors recital in the Weill Recital Hall in the Carnegie Complex in New York City. In 2019, Van Camp was a featured guest soloist with the Susanville Symphony and a featured soloist in Mozart's Requiem (completed by Robert Levin) with Kansas State University's Grand Chorus and orchestra.
As a composer, Van Camp began dabbling in composition at the age of 16 where he began taking formal lessons with his former piano teacher Dr. Sarah Higgins and former Spirito conductor Dr. Jacob Narverud. From there, Van Camp’s love for choral and art song composition grew, prompting him to pursue a double major in Music Education (BME) and Music Composition (BM) at Kansas State University. Van Camp now studies with the chair of the composition department, Dr. Craig Weston. Van Camp’s choral works have been performed all over the nation, from district honor choirs, to collegiate ensemble settings, to national conventions, and his art songs have been performed in small recital settings at Kansas State University, to large concert settings with the Susanville Symphony. Van Camp's composition, In Flanders Fields, was performed by Allegro con Spirito at the 2019 National ACDA convention in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, an honor that few composers receive. Van Camp is currently published with Petrucci Press and Novus Music Publishing, Inc. of which he is a co-founder and president. Van Camp notes that among the compositional giants in his life, the top inspirations belong to Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dr. Jacob Narverud, Eric Whitacre, Owain Park, and Ēriks Ešenvalds.
When not composing, conducting, or concertizing, Van Camp is a die-hard Kansas State football fan, loves watching his brother compete in shot-put, discus, and hammer, and collects pocket watches and Kansas State athletic memorabilia. Van Camp also dabbles in broadcasting as in 2020 he was named, "The Voice of the Saints" becoming the play-by-play announcer for Cornerstone Family Schools's (his alma mater) first ever football team and is the owner of his own podcast Musically Inclined. Van Camp is also a lover of animals and is the proud owner of a rescue cat named Willie.
