Joan Caplan was born in New York City. She grew up in Detroit and Washington, D.C. Her older sister, Dorothy, predeceased her.

Joan graduated from the Boston University School of Fine Arts and began her career as a mezzo soprano soloist with Congregation Mishkan Tefila. Upon graduation she moved to New York City where she was a cantorial soloist at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and the Metropolitan Synagogue. This was the start of a career teaching cantors, only one part of an extensive career as a singer and a teacher of singing.

Her performances included the Santa Fe Opera, Tanglewood, the New York City Opera, Caramoor, Carnegie Hall, the Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas and Washington Symphonies. Recitals at Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, Isabelle Stuart Gardner Museum, and many others. Joan was a mezzo lead in Summer Stock companies at Beverly, Cohasset, and Hyannis theaters and at the Jones Beach Theater.

Her teaching career included Oberlin, Boston College, and summer programs at Israel Vocal Arts Institute and the Centro Studi Italiani. She was also Artist in Residence at Penn State and the State University of New York at Fredonia.

From 1993 until she retired in 2019, Joan was Professor of College and Pre-College at the Manhattan School of Music. She published numerous articles in music publications and lectured on singing. She served on the board of the Amadeus Foundation, which is dedicated to aiding young musicians.

Joan had a wide circle of friends, many of them former students. She had a wonderful sense of humor and a sharp wit. Her laugh and her smile were contagious. She had a passion for sporty cars all with standard shift transmition, and seat belts that were rarely used.

She will be missed by all the people whose lives she touched, including her cousin Joe Morein, his wife Karen Ganz, members of the Paolucci family, her dear former students and friend Richard Lalli and many others.

Contributions in her memory can be made to the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, New Jersey, or to any organizations that support classical music.