Philip Kraus has had a remarkable and rewarding
career as an educator; principally as a vocal teacher and opera workshop director.
While receiving his Masters
and Doctorate from
Northwestern University, Philip developed a private studio which he
operated between 1972 to the present, giving private, hourly vocal
instruction with an emphasis on pedagogical standards, strong
breathing, development of
tone quality, and maintainance of good vocal health. As well as
teaching privately, Philip
taught voice at De Paul University from 1993 to 2000. Several of his
students went on to both opera company apprentice programs and
professional work. Of late, Philip also does private and master class
vocal coaching.
In 1982 Philip was appointed the Director of
the De Paul University Opera Theater. Through 1987, he rejuvenated an antiquated program
producing highly creative productions of Cosí fan tutte, The Crucible, and an imaginative triple
bill of comic French opera including Chabrier's The Incomplete Education, Offenbach's Ba-ta-clan,
and Poulenc's The Breasts of Tiresias.
In 1999, Philip was appointed to a similar position at
Roosevelt University where his inaugural production of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi
received universal approval from the voice faculty, students, and administration.
Subsequent productions included full stagings of The Magic Flute and The Coronation of Poppea.
At both
De Paul and Roosevelt, Philip not only directed all the productions but taught both junior
and senior/graduate level classes in operatic stagecraft.
In 2005 Philip was invited to
join the faculty of Northwestern University, his alma mater, to head
the undergraduate opera program where he teaches the junior and senior
scene classes. In 2011, he joined the faculty of North Park University
in addition to Northwestern where he teaches the graduate opera
literature course.
Throughout his career as an educator, Philip
has been fortunate to be able to draw on a wealth of professional experience which he
enthusiastically imparts to his students. More than anything, it is the process of education
that is the concern in Philip's teaching; a desire to give a student an experience that will
vitalize and enhance the learning process.
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