Philip Kraus is currently one of the most versatile artists
on the American music scene today, having appeared as 
soloist with numerous orchestras and opera companies
throughout the United States in a wide variety of standard
and adventurous repertoire.





Mr. Kraus has been on the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago 
since 1990 performing numerous roles including Dulcamara 
in L'Elisir d'amore, Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, 
Harashta in The Cunning Little Vixen, the Sacristan in Tosca, 
Elder MacLean in Susannah, Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, 
Benoit/Alcindoro in La Boheme, Wolfsheim in The Great Gatsby, 
Baron Duphol in La Traviata, Ratcliffe in Billy Budd, Abe Kaplan 
in Street Scene, and the Mayor in Jenufa as well as featured 
roles in The Gambler, Candide, The Bartered Bride, Tristan und 
Isolde, and Andrea Chenier. Additionally he created the role 
of southern Senator John Calhoun in the world premiere of  
Anthony Davies' Amistad at Lyric.  

Mr. Kraus made his debut with the Minnesota Opera in 1995 in 
the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto and made his Cleveland Opera 
debut in 1994 as the Vicar in Albert Herring. Most recently he
joined the roster of the Los Angeles Opera repeating Duphol in
La Traviata opposite René Fleming and Elizabeth Futral.
The performance with Ms. Fleming will receive a Decca DVD release. 
Additionally, he has performed Germont in Traviata and Alfio 
in Cavalleria Rusticana with the Missouri Symphony, Scarpia in 
Tosca with Chamber Opera Chicago and the Battle Creek Symphony,
the title role Gianni Schicchi in both the Puccini Opera and 
Michael Ching's Buoso's Ghost at Chicago Opera Theater
and Taddeo in L'Italiana in Algeri with both the Hawaii Opera 
Theater and the Pamiro Opera.

Comfortable in both the serious and comic repertoires, Mr. 
Kraus has made a specialty of two title roles, Verdi's Falstaff 
and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, performing both roles on numerous
ocassions to enthusiastic reviews. No stranger to unusual repertoire, 
Mr. Kraus performed Mangus in the American premiere of Sir 
Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden and portrayed the tortured 
Salieri in Rimsky Korsakov's Mozart and Salieri with Concertante 
di Chicago and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. 

Also comfortable in the Baroque repertoire, Mr.Kraus has made 
yearly appearances with the Handel Week Festival singing solo 
work in The Dettingen Te Deum, Esther, Judas Maccabaeus, 
and the roles of Cosroe in Siroe and Varo in Ezio. Kraus has 
also made a specialty of the Purcell masques appearing in 
The Fairy Queen and King Arthur with Music of the Baroque.

Mr. Kraus is equally at home in the light opera and Broadway 
repertoire. Considered a specialist in Gilbert and Sullivan, 
Mr. Kraus received high accolades from the press for his 
performances of Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore at the 
Cleveland Opera and Major General Stanley in The Pirates of 
Penzance at Michigan Opera Theater. Also adept in the Viennese 
repertory, Mr. Kraus has portrayed leading roles in The Gypsy 
Baron, Weiner Blut, The Merry Widow, and One Night in Venice. 
He scored a critical coup in 1989 with his acclaimed portrayal of 
Russell Paxton in the first major revival of Kurt Weill's 
Lady in the Dark at Light Opera Works. Mr. Kraus has also been 
featured on numerous pops concerts with the Milwaukee 
Symphony Orchestra featuring the music of Rodgers and 
Hammerstein, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and Stephen Sondheim.

Solo engagements with conductor Margaret Hillis led to his 
Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut in 1975 in Handel's Dettingen 
Te Deum and Russell Woollen's In Martyrium Memoriam 
after which Sir Georg Solti engaged him for Carnegie Hall
performances and recording of Fidelio. A frequent concert 
artist, Mr. Kraus has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland 
Orchestra, the Dallas, Milwaukee, Omaha, Colorado, Santa 
Barbara, Richmond, Roanoke, Grant Park, South Bend, 
Owensboro, Jacksonville, and Madison Symphonies, and the 
Rochester and Fort Wayne Philharmonics under conductors 
Erich Leinsdorf, Eduardo Mata, Zdenek Macal, Leonard Slatkin, 
David Zinman, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, James Paul, 
Mark Elder, Anton Coppola, Gisele Ben-Dor, Eduard Tchivzhel 
and Marin Alsop. His wide concert repertoire includes a quartet
of Requiems; the Verdi, Brahms, Faure and Mozart; Orff's 
Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Handel's 
Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, 
Bach's B Minor Mass and Magnificat, Vaughan Williams' 
The Sea Symphony and Shostokovitch's Fourteenth Symphony.
 
Mr. Kraus has also been a frequent guest of choral ensembles 
including the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee, Chicago's Apollo 
Chorus, the Bach Festival of Winter Park, Music of the Baroque, 
the Handel Week Festival and the Calvin College Oratorio Society.

Mr. Kraus holds three degrees including a Doctor of Music 
from Northwestern University. He taught both in the voice and 
opera programs at De Paul University. Additionally, he headed 
the opera department at Roosevelt University. Mr. Kraus is also 
a highly regarded stage director and composer.  He founded 
LightOpera Works in 1980, a professional company devoted to 
operetta and was Artistic Director for 19 seasons. He also served 
as resident stage director of Pamiro Opera from 1988 through 
1996.