Jean Kraft

Jean Kraft (January 9, 1927 – July 15, 2021) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano. She began her career singing with the New York City Opera (NYCO) during the early 1960s, after which she embarked on a partnership with The Santa Fe Opera from 1965 through 1987. In 1970 she joined the roster of singers at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she remained a fixture until 1989. She also performed as a guest of many other opera companies throughout the United States. In 2005 Opera News called her "a gifted mezzo and observant, imaginative actress who lent distinction to a wide range of character roles. By the end of her Met tenure, she had sung nearly 800 performances and become a solid audience favorite."

Early life and education Born in Menasha, Wisconsin on January 9, 1927, Kraft began her career working as pianist as a teenager and was also a proficient clarinet and trumpet player. After working as a pianist for four years she decided to reorient her path towards a singing career, at this point more interested in the concert repertoire than in opera. She entered the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied voice under Giannini Gregory. She later continued with further studies under Theodore Harrison in Chicago, William Ernest Vedal in Munich, and Povla Frijsh in New York City.

Career 1960s While still a student, Kraft sang the role of Laura Gates in the world premiere of Mark Bucci's Tale for a Deaf Ear at the 1957 Tanglewood Music Festival in a student production directed by Boris Goldovsky and conducted by James Billings. She made her professional opera debut on February 18, 1960 as the Mother in Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author at the NYCO with Beverly Sills as The Coloratura. She appeared with the NYCO in several more productions during the 1960s including, Miss Jessel in Britten's The Turn of the Screw (1962), the Forewoman in Charpentier's Louise (1962), Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1962), Maud Lowder in Douglas Moore's The Wings of the Dove (1962), Death in Stravinsky's The Nightingale (1963), Flora in Verdi's La traviata (1963), Sarah Chicken in Robert Ward's The Lady from Colorado (1964), and Penelope in Menotti's Help, Help, the Globolinks! (1969) among others. She had sung the role of Penelope the previous year for the work's world premiere at the SFO.

At The Santa Fe Opera Kraft was also highly active with The Santa Fe Opera during the 1960s. In 1965 she made her debut with the company as Adelaide von Waldner in Richard Strauss's Arabella. Her other performances with the company during these years included Marcellina (1965); Thisbe in Rossini's La cenerentola (1966); Madame de Croissy in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites (1966); Mother Goose in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1966); Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto (1966); Margret in Alban Berg's Wozzeck (1966); Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (1968); the Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute (1968); Annina in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier; and Ninon in the United States premiere of Penderecki's The Devils of Loudun (1969) among others.

Performances in New York and elsewhere While mostly busy performing in operas in New York City and Santa Fe during the 1960s, Kraft also performed with other opera companies and in concerts throughout the United States during these years. In May 1962 she gave her New York City recital debut at Carnegie Recital Hall with pianist and composer Yehudi Wyner accompanying her in a program that included the premieres of several pieces by Wyner. In Philadelphia Kraft sang the roles of The Monitress in Puccini's Suor Angelica (1962) and Rossweisse in Wagner's Die Walküre (1963) with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company. In April 1964 she sang in the New York City premiere of Jack Gottlieb's Tea Party at the Donnell Library Center for the New York Composers Forum.

Metropolitan Opera: 1970–1989 In 1969 Kraft was offered a contract by Rudolf Bing to join the roster of singers at the Metropolitan Opera. She leapt at the opportunity after recently having turned down a number of similar offers from a few different European opera houses. She made her Met debut on February 7, 1970, as Flora in La Traviata with Gabriella Tucci as Violetta, Nicolai Gedda as Alfredo, Robert Merrill as Germont, and Francesco Molinari-Pradelli conducting. Thus was the beginning of a nineteen-year-long artistic relationship which resulted in several CD recordings, eight "Live From the Met" recordings for television and video release, and well over 80 Saturday Texaco "Met" Broadcasts.

During her years working for the Met, Kraft continued to return periodically for performances with the Santa Fe Opera. Her roles with the company during these years included Flora (1970), Mother Goose (1970), Marcellina (1970, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1987), Penelope (1970), Death (1970), Suzuki (1972), Lapérouse in the United States Premiere of Aribert Reimann's Melusine (1972), Herodias (1972, 1979), Kate Julian in Britten's Owen Wingrave (1973), Countess Geschwitz in Berg's Lulu (1974), the Third Lady (1974, 1984, 1986), Meg Page in Verdi's Falstaff (1975, 1977), Genevieve in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1977), Larina (1980), Berta (1981), Miss Pick in Hindemith's News of the Day (1981), the notary's wife in Strauss's Intermezzo (1984), May in the U.S. premiere of Henze's We Come to the River (1984), and Juno in the world premiere of John Eaton's The Tempest (1985). Her last performance with the company was as Widow Zimmerlein in Strauss's Die schweigsame Frau in 1987. She also portrayed Mrs. Sedley in 1984 in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's critically acclaimed production of Peter Grimes at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Italy. In April 1986 she portrayed Dinah in Bernstein's A Quiet Place at the Vienna State Opera under the baton of the composer. Kraft recalled in 2005 interview, "Keeping the hand in and knowing all the right people—I never did that. They came into my life, like Bernstein. I did A Quiet Place in Vienna, and after we recorded it, he said, 'I'm sorry I didn't write an aria for you.' And I said, 'I am, too!'"