 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2014) |
Tom Gunnar Krause (5 July 1934 − 6 December 2013 [1] ) was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2014) |
Tom Gunnar Krause (5 July 1934 − 6 December 2013 [1] ) was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles.
Born in Helsinki, Tom Krause studied medicine for three years with the intention of becoming a psychiatrist, while singing and playing the guitar in a jazz band, The Jamcats. His vocal talent led him to leave his medical studies for serious voice studies at the Vienna Music Academy. He studied with Margot Skoda, Sergio Nazor, Rudolf Bautz, and Vera Rózsa.
Krause made his operatic debut in Berlin, as Escamillo, in 1959, and quickly gained a reputation in opera and concert throughout Europe and the United States.
He was fluent in seven languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Finnish. During a career spanning over 50 roles in the Italian, German, French, English, Finnish, Czech, Russian, and Swedish repertory including the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern, Mr. Krause appeared in leading roles at most of the great opera houses of the world and regularly performed at the festivals of Bayreuth, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Glyndebourne, Savonlinna, and Tanglewood. A frequent guest soloist in concert, the baritone was heard regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Amsterdam Concertgebow, and others. Mr. Krause regularly shared the stage and recorded with singers as Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Jessye Norman, Kiri Te Kanawa, Joan Sutherland, Birgit Nilsson, Marilyn Horne, Margeret Price, Teresa Berganza, and Nicolai Gedda, as well worked under the baton of Bernstein, Stravinsky, Solti, Von Karajan, Mehta, Ormandy, Shaw, Osawa, Rostropovich, Eschenbach, Conlon, Salonen, Harnoncourt and Giulini, etc. He worked with stage directors such as Ponnelle, Strehler, Faggioni, Sellars, Dresen, Everding, Lieberman, Menotti, and Chereau.
He joined the Hamburg State Opera, where he sang mostly Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner roles, but also such rarities as Rossini's La pietra del paragone and Handel's Jephtha . He began making guest appearances in Munich, Amsterdam, and Brussels, and made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival, as the Herald in Lohengrin , in 1962.
In 1963, after having performed the Britten's War Requiem conducted by the composer, Benjamin Britten chose Tom Krause to sing the American premiere at the Tanglewood Summer Festival with the Boston Symphony. His English debut took place in 1963, at the Glyndebourne Festival as the Count in Capriccio . His 1967 debut, at the Metropolitan Opera as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro , received an ovation. [2] From 1968 on, he appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival, notably as Don Giovanni and Guglielmo. He took part in the premiere of Krenek's Der Goldene Bock in 1964, and of Searle's Hamlet, in 1968, both in Hamburg. In 1970, Krause was chosen by Eugene Ormandy for the American Premiere of the 13th Symphony by Schostakowitsch and in 1971, Samuel Barber composed The Lovers, the oratorio for baritone solo and choir, for Tom Krause.
A renowned recital artist, he gave countless solo recitals throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. He also appeared in numerous television and feature films. His works and recordings awarded him numerous distinctions and prizes during his 55-year career. In 1990, the Finnish State awarded Mr. Krause with the Order of the Finnish Lion – the highest award for cultural personalities in Finland. He was also given the title Kammersaenger in Hamburg for his achievements there. In recognition of his artistic contribution to his native Finland, the Helsinki University awarded Mr. Krause the title of Doctor of Music Honoris Causa in 2003.
During the 1980s, Mr. Krause started giving master classes in the U.S. and Europe. From 1989 to 1990 he was guest professor at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and from 1994 to 2001, a full professor at the Music Academy in Hamburg. In 2002, he added a full professorship at the Queen Sofia School of Music, Madrid, Spain, where he chaired the vocal department until his death in 2013. Because of his extensive experience in classical music and his interest in passing on his legacy of singing, Mr. Krause was in great demand for master classes around the world and was highly regarded as juror in the most important international singing competitions. He was frequently head of the Jury or Jury Member at the most prestigious International Singing competitions such as Mobil Song Quest, Auckland; the Queen Sonja International Singing Competition, Oslo; the Mirjam Helin International Singing Competition, Helsinki; Queen Elizabeth Singing Competition, Brussels; the ARD Competition, Munich; the Tschaikowski Singing Competition, Moscow; International Competition of the Art of Lied, Stuttgart; the Singer of the World Competition, Cardiff; the Montreal International Singing Competition, Montreal, Canada; the Moniuszko Competition, Warsaw; etc. Mr. Krause regularly gave master classes at the Academy of Vocal Arts and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA; CNIPAL, Marseille; Villecroze Academie Musicale, France; Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Brussels; Mozarteum Summer Academy, Salzburg; Encuentro Musical, Santander; the Festival Music Academy, Savonlinna; Voksenåsen Summer Music Academy, Oslo; Kusastsu Music Festival, Kusatsu, Japan; etc. He has also gave master classes at the San Francisco Opera, California; the Florida Grand Opera, Miami, Florida; Schleswig-Holstein Festival; the Fifth International Congress of Voice Teachers, Helsinki; Kunitachi School of Music, Tokyo; the Nagoya School of Music, Nagoya; Poland; Portugal, etc.
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. He died after a short illness in December 2013, aged 79.
He can be heard in over 100 recordings. His recordings of Bach with Karl Münchinger and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra were awarded the Bach prize. His recording of Carmen with Marilyn Horne under Leonard Bernstein received a certificate for the best opera recording of 1973 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His recording of the complete Sibelius Songs received the Edison Prize, the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and the Gramophone Classical Music Awards, among others.
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music director of the San Francisco Symphony.
Paavo Allan Engelbert Berglund was a Finnish conductor and violinist.
John Mark Ainsley is an English lyric tenor. Known for his supple voice, Ainsley is particularly admired for his interpretations of baroque music and the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the course of his career, he has gravitated towards 20th-century music, singing in operas by Henze, Janáček, and Britten.
Sir John Michael Pritchard, was an English conductor. He was known for his interpretations of Mozart operas and for his support of contemporary music.
Leif Selim Segerstam is a Finnish conductor, composer, violinist, violist and pianist, especially known for writing 350 symphonies as of August 2022, along with other works in his extensive oeuvre.
Peter Ruzicka is a German composer and conductor of classical music. He was director of the Hamburg State Opera, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamburg and the Salzburg Festival. Ruzicka was managing director and Intendant of the Salzburg Easter Festival and is professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. The list of his compositions includes numerous orchestral and chamber music works as well as the opera "Celan", about the poet Paul Celan, which was premiered in Dresden in 2001. His opera "Hölderlin" had its premiere at the Berlin State Opera in 2008. Ruzicka's third opera "Benjamin", about the philosopher Walter Benjamin, was written in 2015/16 for the Hamburg State Opera and premiered in 2018.
Margaret Anne Marshall OBE is a Scottish soprano.
Jorma Kalervo Hynninen is a Finnish baritone who performs regularly with the world's major opera companies. He has also worked in opera administration.
Soile Marja Isokoski is a Finnish lyric soprano. She is an opera singer as well as a concert and lieder singer.
Ilona Jokinen is a Finnish soprano opera singer whose repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music. She has won many prizes in Finnish national singing competitions and lied music competitions, such as first prize in Pentti Koskimies lied competition and third prize at the Merikanto singing competition and Toivo Kuula competition.
Valery Klimov was a Russian violinist.
Robert Hale is an American bass-baritone opera singer. Although born in Texas, Hale spent his childhood in Louisiana. His family then moved to Oklahoma City, where he attended high school and college. He graduated from Bethany-Peniel College in 1955 with a Bachelor of Music degree. He then completed his master's degree at the University of Oklahoma. While still at the University of Oklahoma, he won the National Association of Teachers of Singing Singer of the Year award and completed further studies at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music where he was awarded the Artist Diploma as well as winning the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He began his career as a recitalist appearing in concert halls across the United States and later made his operatic debut at New York City Opera, as Colline in La bohème (1967).
Michael Adelson is an American orchestral conductor. Adelson is a staff and cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic—where he also leads regular clinics and workshops for the orchestra's Department of Education—as well as conductor of the Auros Group for New Music in Boston.
Donald Munro Bell is a Canadian bass-baritone and vocal pedagogue. For over four decades he actively performed in concerts and operas internationally. He retired from performance in 1994. As a vocal pedagogue he has researched and published studies on vocal acoustics and laryngeal function. He is the founder of the Vocal Arts Acoustical Research Group at the University of Calgary, where he currently serves on the voice faculty.
Savonlinna Music Academy is an association in Savonlinna (Finland) organizing international master classes in Savonlinna and abroad. On the master classes internationally renowned musicians teach young talented singers and instrumentalists in the field of opera, lied and chamber music.
Andrzej Dobber is a Polish baritone, honored with the title of Kammersänger by the Senate of the City of Hamburg and awarded the silver medal for Merit to Culture - Gloria Artis by the Polish Minister of Culture.
Iwona Sobotka is a Polish soprano and Grand Prix Winner of the Queen Elizabeth Music Competition.
Mika Kares is a Finnish operatic bass in opera and concert who made an international career. He was first based at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and went on to the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, and the Seattle Opera, among others.
Matti Kalervo Lehtinen was a Finnish operatic baritone, a long-term member of the Finnish National Opera, and professor of singing at the Sibelius Academy. He appeared at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and international opera houses, and as an oratorio and lieder singer.
| General | |
|---|---|
| National libraries | |
| Biographical dictionaries | |
| Other | |
