Pianist, Collaborative Artist, & Teacher
About
SOLO WORK
Andrew Kraus is a pianist who performs regularly as both soloist and collaborator. He has performed in both roles across the U.S., Europe, and Asia to critical and audience approval.
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“Bravo Shouted the Audience…Kraus delighted the audience with his virtuoso interpretation in Lemförde and inspired them to ‘bravo’ and ‘encore’…”. (Diepholzer Kreisblatt, August 12, 2012)
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“Mr. Kraus appeared as soloist with my Mantovani Orchestra, performing works written and arranged for the orchestra and sourced from movie scores of the 1 940's and 1950's, a completely different genre from Mr. Kraus' usual oeuvre. His appearances on many of the foremost concert stages of China were superb in every facet of performance and his relationship with our audiences was most gracious”. Kenneth Moulton, President, Mantovani Production Associates
“With his highly sensitive interpretive art, Kraus succeeded in presenting a touching tribute to the Schwabacher piano virtuoso, Adolph von Henselt – and simultaneously piano music of the Romantic. First Class”. ( Elke Walters in the Frankische Landeszeitung, Nr 95, 25, Ansbach, Bavaria, April 25, 2014).
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COLLABORATIVE WORK
Andrew Kraus is an accomplished and sensitive collaborator, working with singers and instrumentalists in concerts around the greater Washington, DC area as well as for his work coaching emerging performers. In July 2017 he returned for his ninth year on as Staff Coach at the Crittenden Summer Opera Studio in Chevy Chase, MD.
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"Mr. Kraus … has been a superb piano teacher (of the Josef Hofmann/Leopold Godowsky lineage) and a sublime accompanist. He has always stressed the importance of accompanying with his piano students and has demonstrated the highest levels of this art in his own performances". Kenneth Moulton, President, Mantovani Production Associates, LLC"
“Andrew was an incredibly supportive and versatile pianist in Ash Lawn Opera’s Education and Outreach performances in 2011. He supported soprano and Teaching Artist, Mary Gresock, in 14 performances for over 900 children in Albemarle County and graciously played in any key that Mary or the children needed. It’s rare to find such a collaborative and enthusiastic pianist!” Michelle Krisel, General Director, Ash Lawn Opera Festival
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"Mr. Kraus is able to sight-read anything I put before him. His musicality, reliability and amazing technique make it a joy for me and my students to work with him at professional levels. His abilities run the gamut from "simply" accompanying to collaborating to coaching when asked to do so and when necessary. Mr. Kraus is equally at home in the recording studio, He is now the official accompanist and recording technician for my studio because I can count on the very best at all times from this fine musician". Donna Dymond, Flutist, Scholarship Student of Joseph Marianao at the Eastman School of Music.
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TEACHING
Recognizing that not everyone who might want to work with him can come to his Rockville studio regularly, Andrew Kraus is available to teach individual lessons in person as well as through Skype. If interested in this, please use the contact form at the bottom of this page to request an audition and interview. The audition can be “in person” or over Skype (or another similar tool).
Mr. Kraus’ approach to teaching the art of playing the piano is both holistic and eclectic, expanding on what he learned from his own teachers, Peter Feuchtwanger, Lily Kraus, David Saperton, Ward Davenny and Bela Boszormenyi-Nagy as well as what he learned from practicing meditation, Tai Qi, and Qigong as well as the use of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) in promoting relaxation and peak performance.
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Mr. Kraus is one of a few pianist teachers in North America to have the personal endorsement of noted European pianist and pedagogue, Peter Feuchtwanger, for the teaching of his methods and his 18 Healing Exercises. As Mr. Feuchtwanger said, “…It [the exercises look] looks very easy, but none of the exercises are easy at first. I never met anyone yet who could do them immediately, but after they mastered them, they could not understand how it was possible that they couldn’t…” About Mr. Kraus’ teaching he wrote:
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“Mr. Kraus has successfully integrated the key elements of my piano technique and my Piano Exercises for Healing Physiological Disturbances and for Learning a Functional and Natural Piano Playing" into his teaching…I have seen evidence of his success with my methods in videos that he has sent me of his students where they clearly demonstrated key elements of my methods, e.g., upright seating posture, low seat, minimal extraneous movements, elliptical wrist movements. His article for The International Society for the Study of Tension in Performance Journal on "Integrating Tai-Chi/Qi Gong and Piano Practice" is evidence of his interest in helping his students play in a relaxed and focused way. His teaching continues to evolve and improve, and I am pleased to learn of his recent focus on innovative ways to manage performance stress with his students”.
Mr. Kraus teaches his students how to achieve “Performance Success” by teaching them to achieve the optimal balance of arousal and relaxation by drawing on techniques from NLP and Tai Chi/Qigong. (Interested parties can read more about what constitutes “optimal balance…” by searching “Yerkes-Dodson Human Performance and Stress Curve.)” Other examples of foci of his work in these areas include – sitting properly, “the relaxing breath”, and “autogenic relaxation”, to name three.