Robert Craft - Conducting

Conducting

Craft is an award-winning conductor who has led most of the major orchestras in the United States: (New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Minneapolis), as well as international engagements in Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. He is the first American to have conducted Alban Berg's Wozzeck and Lulu. Craft also led the world premieres of Stravinsky's later masterpieces; Vom Himmel hoch, Agon, The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Variations, Introitus, and Requiem Canticles.

Besides recording virtually all of Stravinsky's music, Craft has conducted pioneering recordings of Schoenberg, Varèse, Webern and other works of then contemporary composers. While not a flamboyant conductor, Craft is known for his technically and musically precise interpretations. Robert Craft is a two-time recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque, as well as the Edison Prize for his recordings of music by Varèse and Stravinsky. His recordings of the music of Stravinsky with the Orchestra of St. Luke's were originally available on eleven now out-of-print releases from MusicMasters and seven volumes from Koch. Since early 2005, these recordings have been gradually re-released by Naxos Records.