Dr. Donald Lawrence Appert is a conductor, composer and trombonist, Music Director/Conductor since 1990 of the Clark College Orchestra in Vancouver, Washington, where he is also a Professor of Music and Head of the Music Department. In addition he is the Music Director/Conductor of the Oregon Sinfonietta in Portland, Oregon.

Donald Appert has written works in particular for string and chamber orchestra, and brass ensembles. In 2007 and 2001 the Ashiya Chamber Orchestra gave the world premieres respectively of Nara Variations and Elegy for string orchestra, both commissioned by them. In prior years they have also performed Appert's In the Similitude of a Dream and Thru a Glass Darkly, both for string orchestra. His music has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Europe.

Other orchestras he has conducted include the Bourgas Opera-Philharmonic Society (Bulgaria), the Slovak State Orchestra (Kosice), the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg (Russia), the Orchestra of the Conservatoire Frederic Chopin in Paris, France, the Valcea Philharmonic (Romania), the Orquestra da Fundacao Conservatorio Regional de Gaia (Portugal), and Orchestra Sinfonica Citta di Grosseto (Italy). In the United States he has appeared as guest conductor of the Vancouver (WA) Symphony, the University of Texas - Arlington Symphony Orchestra, the Eastern Washington University Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Central Arkansas Symphony. In the 2007-2008 season he is scheduled to conduct in El Salvador, Slovakia, Italy, and Spain.

International reviews of his conducting have elicited comments such as: L'ovadese wrote "the performance of the Serenade in C major of Tchaikovsky, under the exceptional direction of Appert, was in such a style that it brought out the elegance and grace of the melodic lines with Mozartian inspiration. ...L'Orchestra Sinfonica Citta di Grosseto ...performed the Barber Adagio with rare effectiveness, emphasizing its intrinsically rich melody." Giornale di Sicilia praised his interpretation of Nielsen's First Symphony as "lyrical with an airy freshness" and his conducting as "precise, painstakingly accurate, and diligent."

Dr. Appert received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Trombone from the New England Conservatory. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Kansas. Dr. Appert has studied conducting with Riccardo Muti, Otto Werner Mueller, Maurice Abravanel, Daniel Lewis, Fredrik Fennel, George Lawner, and Richard Pittman. He has studied trombone with Ronald Barron, John Coffey, and Tyrone Breuninger, and has performed as a trombonist with the Kansas City Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, the Virginia Opera Orchestra, and the Springfield (MA) Symphony.