When the Northumberland Orchestra and Choir (NOC) performs at the Trinity United Church in Cobourg next month, it will be a bittersweet concert for the music group, as it will be the final time Peterborough’s John Kraus will stand before them as conductor.
Appropriately closing his decade with the orchestra by passing on the torch to the next generation of musicians, Kraus’ final show at the conductor’s podium will see the performance of rising talents, pianist Michelle Yeh and violinist Ashley Leong. As last year’s winners of Markham’s Yip’s Music Competition, the duo will join the orchestra in performing masterworks from Beethoven and Bruch.
“Young Artists in Concert” is the premiere production for NOC’s 2023-24 season, held at Cobourg’s Trinity United Church on Saturday, November 4th at 7:30 p.m.
Since May 2013, Kraus has been at the helm of the not-for-profit organization that first formed in 1978. The Peterborough musician has led performances of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Lauridsen, Willan, and Stravinsky and collaborations with local and national groups including Sultans of String, Molly Johnson, Quartetto Gelato, Anastasia Rizikov, the Hispanic Society of Northumberland, the Kawartha Lakes Singers, and the Oriana Singers.
“One of the best things about these past 10 years with the NOC are the people I have had the chance to meet and to work with, as we mounted over 50 concerts,” says Kraus in a media release. “If I have accomplished anything, I hope that I have given people on stage and in our audiences the chance to see and hear their friends and family members coming together and making beautiful music in their own community.”
According to the release, Kraus has held many roles for the NOC as well as a conductor, often jumping in as a stage hand, sound tech, videographer, and publicist for the group. He is also an active music educator with more than 30 years of experience teaching both high school students and adults in the community. He has also served on the teaching faculty at the Lakefield Summer Music Camp, and as a sectional conductor and woodwind coach at the La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra in Port Hope.
The musician has also been a founding director of the Durham Chamber Orchestra and Lakeridge Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, served as music director of the Clarington Concert Band, and has performed in a number of funk bands, jazz groups, choirs, orchestras, and musical theatre shows.
In 2017, Kraus was nominated for the Heinz Unger Award, a national award from the Ontario Arts Council to recognize professional conductors.
Though Kraus is stepping down to travel and ease into retirement, he will continue to conduct Ottawa’s Parkdale Symphony Orchestra and host his weekly Northumberland 89.7 classical music radio program, Maestro’s Picks.
After Kraus’ departure, the two remaining NOC concerts of the season, “Christmas in Northumberland” on December 17 and “Heroes and Heroines” on April 6, will be led by guest conductors.
Kraus’ final concert as head director is part of electric violinist Victoria Yeh’s Travel by Sound concert series, which gives ticket holders the opportunity to turn the concert into an experience. Anyone with a ticket can receive a pre-show dinner special at Cobourg’s Arthur’s Pub and a discount at Best Western Plus Cobourg Inn & Convention Centre.
Tickets for NOC’s Young Artists in Concert performance are $35 for adults, $32 for seniors, $19 for students 25 and younger, $82 for family (four tickets), and free for children 12 and younger. For more information and tickets, visit travelbysound.com/northumberland-orchestra-choir/.
