Born in Louisville, Ky., and raised in Selma, Alabama, Lamar Sims holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in piano performance with an emphasis on vocal accompanying and chamber music from University of Maryland College Park. He has extensive and varied experience as a performer, teacher, coach, and director in church, academic, concert, and theatrical settings.

His teachers and coaches include Claudia Faulk, Roy McAllister, Santiago Rodriguez, Bela Nagy, Jorg Demus, Robert McCoy, members of the Guarneri String Quartet, Leon Major, Alcine Wiltz, Richard Crittenden, Timothy Seelig, and Thilde Beuing. Organizations with whom he has collaborated include Friday Morning Music Club, Paul Hill Chorale, Cathedral Choral Society, Washington Opera, National Symphony Youth Fellowship Program, Master Chorale Chamber Singers, and Washington Bach Consort (in the Washington, D.C. area); Turtle Creek Chorale and the Women’s Chorus of Dallas (in Dallas, Texas); and Northland Community Choir, International Center for Music at Park University, and Kansas City Women’s Chorus.

Lamar continues to be active as a teacher and coach of voice and piano, accompanist for Heartland Men’s Chorus, and a collaborative artist with a variety of performers and organizations throughout the KC-metro area.