Philip Kraus (born November 17, 1950) is an American operatic baritone and stage director known for his performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, starting in 1991, and for his co-founding of Light Opera Works, a professional light opera company in Chicago, in 1980.
Kraus was born in New York City where he received early musical training. As a child, he developed a keen interest in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. In addition to singing, he also composed music and conducted choirs.
Kraus studied music education at Northwestern University and eventually earned a Doctor of Music in Applied Voice from that institution in 1986. [1] He studied voice with tenor Walter Carringer, choral music with Margaret Hillis, and opera with Robert Gay, a disciple of Boris Goldovsky. He participated in the 1974 American premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden at Northwestern, singing the role of Mangus. [2]
In 1979, Kraus made his professional debut singing the role of the Vicar in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring with the Chicago Opera Theater. [3] He later played the title role in Gianni Schicchi with the company. [4] With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in 1979, he sang in Handel's Dettingen Te Deum and the Chicago premiere of American composer Russell Woollen's In Martyrium Memoriam. [5] Also in 1979, he recorded the role of Zweiter Gefangene in Beethoven's Fidelio with the CSO, conducted by Sir Georg Solti. [6]
Kraus began a long association as soloist with the Grant Park Concerts in Chicago in 1979, performing Haydn's Mass in Time of War under conductor Thomas Peck. [7] He followed this singing Elgar's The Kingdom , under Leonard Slatkin, in 1981. [8] Kraus went on to sing with other American orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, [9] Dallas Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, [10] and many others, working with conductors Erich Leinsdorf, Eduardo Mata, Zdeněk Mácal, [11] Andrew Davis, [12] James Conlon, [13] David Zinman, [14] Claudio Abbado, James Levine, [15] Lukas Foss, [16] Mark Elder, Anton Coppola, [17] Gisele Ben-Dor, [18] and Marin Alsop. [19] He has been a soloist at the Handel Week Festival in Oak Park, Illinois several times, [20] at Mahlerfest in Boulder, Colorado (2001), [21] and sang Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah in 1996 with New Oratorio Singers. [22]
In 1986, with Chamber Opera Chicago, Kraus played the title role in Falstaff . [23] He joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 1990 season, and his roles with the company include Jose Castro in La fanciulla del West (1991), Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (1992), Micah in The Bartered Bride (1993), Alcindoro in La bohème (1993), the Sacristan in Tosca (1994), Elder MacLean in Susannah (1994), [24] various supporting roles in Candide (1994), [25] Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi (1996), Southern Senator in Amistad (1997; world premiere, by composer Anthony Davis), Helmsman in Tristan und Isolde (1999), [26] Meyer Wolfshiem in The Great Gatsby (2000), the Mayor in Jenůfa (2000), [27] Abe Kaplan in Street Scene (2001), [28] Ratcliffe in Billy Budd (2001–2002), [29] Baron Douphol in La Traviata (2003), [30] Benoit/Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (2003), [31] and Harashta in The Cunning Little Vixen (2004). [32] In the company's 2007-08 season, he played Baron Douphol in La Traviata. [33] In 2010, he played Pish-Tush in The Mikado . [34] The Wall Street Journal said that he brought "appropriate snark" to the role. [35] The next year, he was again in La fanciulla del West, this time as Sid. [36] He has played Bartolo in The Barber of Seville more than once for the company. [37] In 2012, he played Le Bailli in Werther . [38] One of his later roles for the company was the Notary in Der Rosenkavalier in 2016. [39]
In 1994 Kraus sang the Vicar in Albert Herring with Cleveland Opera, [40] and in 1995, he sang the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto with Minnesota Opera. [1] He sang the Sacristan in Tosca with Cleveland Opera in 2002. [41] He later joined the roster of the Los Angeles Opera in 2006 singing Baron Duphol in La Traviata in a cast that included Renée Fleming. [13] The production was broadcast by radio station WFMT in Los Angeles. [42] With Los Angeles, he performed in The Bartered Bride . [43] In 2007, Kraus portrayed the composer Antonio Salieri in a concert production of Rimsky-Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri . [44]
Kraus, after having been involved with the Northwestern University Gilbert and Sullivan Guild as director, co-founded Light Opera Works in 1980, [45] one of only a few professional companies devoted to the operetta genre in the United States. He served as Artistic Director for 19 seasons directing 38 mainstage productions. Under his artistic direction the company produced Chicago premieres and revivals of Orpheus in the Underworld (1881), The Beautiful Galatea (1982), Naughty Marietta (1983), Utopia, Limited (1984), The Gypsy Baron (1985), The Grand Duke (1992), The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (1986), [46] Die Fledermaus (1986, 1995), [47] The Chocolate Soldier (1987), [48] Wiener Blut (1989), Babes in Toyland (1993), [49] La Vie parisienne (1984), The Golden Apple (1995), The Czardas Princess (1990) and Emmerich Kalman's little-known The Duchess of Chicago (1998). [50] While Kraus was artistic director, the company also produced stage works of Kurt Weill, including Lady in the Dark (1989), Knickerbocker Holiday (1992), One Touch of Venus (1997) and all of the extant full-length Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas during his tenure with company. [51]
Kraus served as resident stage director for the Pamiro Opera in Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1988 to 1996, directing productions of L'Italiana in Algeri (1988), [52] The Merry Widow (1989), [53] The Daughter of the Regiment (1990), [54] Die Fledermaus (1991), [55] The Magic Flute (1992), [56] La Traviata (1993), [57] Madama Butterfly (1994), [58] Rigoletto (1995), [59] and the world premiere of Gordon Parmentier's The Lost Dauphin (2000), which was videotaped by Wisconsin Public Television for broadcast. [60]
For the Chicago Cultural Center, he directed Poulenc's The Breasts of Tiresias in 2000 and Mozart's The Impresario in 2001 [61] for which he prepared the English translation. At the Lyric Opera Cleveland, he directed Patience , by Gilbert and Sullivan, in 2002, [62] and The Mikado in 2004, in his 1986 Elizabethan concept. [63] In 2017, he directed La Périchole for Tacoma Opera. [64]
Kraus has prepared several English singing translations of operas and operettas in collaboration with lyricist Gregory Opelka. These include Oscar Straus' The Chocolate Soldier [65] and A Waltz Dream [66] and Kalman's The Duchess of Chicago. [67] Other translations include La Serva Padrona , Orpheus in the Underworld , Gianni Schicchi , Suor Angelica , The Coronation of Poppea and The Land of Smiles .
From 1982 to 1987, Kraus served as the Director of the De Paul University Opera Theater in Chicago [68] and taught applied voice at De Paul from 1993 to 1999. [1] From 1999 to 2002 Kraus served as the Director of Opera at Roosevelt University in Chicago. [69] Kraus was a Lecturer at Northwestern University School of music in the opera program beginning in 2005. [70] [71]
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.
June Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. She is known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini.
Stephanie Blythe is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. She is particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, with whom she has performed annually since her debut with the company in 1995. In 2014 she starred as Gertrude Stein in the world premiere of 27, an opera composed by Ricky Ian Gordon with libretto by Royce Vavrek, and commissioned for her by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
Music Theater Works is a resident professional not-for-profit musical theatre company in Evanston, Illinois. It was founded in 1980 by Philip Kraus, Bridget McDonough, and Ellen Dubinsky.
Stephanie Woodling is an American lyric mezzo-soprano, currently engaged by Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where she has performed the roles of Dorabella, Hänsel, Giulietta, Siébel, Annio, Wellgunde, Kristina, Die zweite Dame, Tessa, and Antonia (Tiefland). She debuted with the company in 2004 as Die zweite Magd in their new production of Elektra.
Gillian Knight is an English opera singer and actress, known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy operas. After six years from 1959 to 1965 starring in these roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Knight began a grand opera career.
Muriel Salina Costa-Greenspon was an American mezzo-soprano who had a lengthy career at the New York City Opera from 1963 to 1993.
Philip David Morehead is an American pianist, conductor and vocal coach now retired as head of music staff of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. His previous positions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago have included Music Administrator and Chorus Master.
James Billings was an American operatic baritone, librettist, and opera director. He began his career in the late 1950s in Boston and later became a member of the New York City Opera where he performed regularly from the early 1970s through the 1990s. A specialist in the comprimario repertoire, he has portrayed more than 175 opera roles on stage during his long career. Billings has also written librettos for numerous operas for children and since the mid-1990s has directed several opera productions.
David Hillman was an English operatic tenor who sang with all the leading opera companies in the United Kingdom.
Asheville Lyric Opera (ALO) is a professional, non-profit opera company located in Asheville, North Carolina. Its repertoire encompasses styles ranging from the comedies of Mozart and Rossini to the classic Verdi and Puccini dramas as well as classic musical theatre works. Founder David Craig Starkey served as General and Artistic Director until 2016. The 500-seat Diana Wortham Theatre, built in 1991, has been the company's home since 2001. ALO is a member of Opera America. Dean Anthony was announced as the company's new Artistic and Producing Direction beginning with the 2019/2020 Season.
Brian Salesky is an American conductor of operatic and orchestral music. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University, he also studied at The Juilliard School.
Michael Fabiano is an American operatic tenor. Born in Montclair, New Jersey, he has performed in leading opera houses throughout the world, including the San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Canadian Opera Company, The Royal Opera, and Teatro Real de Madrid among many others. Fabiano is the 2014 Richard Tucker Award winner and the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award winner, making him the first singer to win both awards in the same year.
The DuPage Opera Theatre (DOT) is one of three professional opera companies located in the Chicago area, along with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Opera Theater. Founded in 1977 as a resident, professional ensemble at the McAninch Arts Center at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, DuPage Opera has mounted several hundred performances since its inception.
Andrew Shore, is an English operatic baritone.
Rosa Feola is an Italian operatic soprano.
John Longmuir is a Scottish-born Australian tenor. Known primarily for operatic roles, he is also in demand on the concert platform and has appeared as a judge on channel seven's music competition show 'All Together Now'. Noted for his "generous voice, bright ringing vocal quality and legato phrasing" His operatic studies took place at the Australian Opera Studio. In 2019 John received his first Helpmann Award nomination, for his role as the Captain, in Berg's Wozzeck, for Opera Australia.
Chester Watson was an American bass-baritone singer who had an active performance career in operas and concerts from the late 1940s into the 1970s. He was particularly active as a performer in opera on American television with the NBC Opera Theater. He also made appearances with several American opera companies, including the New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Opera Society of Washington. He is best known for creating roles in the world premieres of several American operas, including the First Police Agent in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul (1950), Father Julien in Norman Dello Joio's The Trial at Rouen (1956), Palivec in Robert Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik (1958), and Leonard Swett in Thomas Pasatieri's The Trial of Mary Lincoln (1972). He notably starred opposite Maria Callas as Goffredo in the American Opera Society's lauded 1959 production of Giuseppe Verdi's Il pirata; a performance which was recorded for EMI Classics. On the concert stage he appeared frequently with the National Symphony Orchestra during the 1950s, and also made guest appearances as a soloist with other American symphonies like the New York Philharmonic.
Michael Kraus is an Austrian operatic baritone.
Sheri Greenawald is an American soprano and music educator who had an active performance career in concerts and operas during the second half of the 20th century and early 21st century. She has portrayed principal roles in the world premieres of several operas, including works by composers Leonard Bernstein, Daniel Catán, Carlisle Floyd, Thomas Pasatieri, and Stephen Paulus. She has performed leading roles with opera companies in the US and abroad, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Bavarian State Opera, La Fenice, and Paris Opera. She was particularly active as a performer with the Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Opera. A former member of the voice faculty at the Boston Conservatory, she served as director of the San Francisco Opera Center from 2002 through 2020.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
