Citadel Symphony Chorus, Artistic Director

James Kraus holds a BA in Piano Performance from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky.  He studied piano further at the University of Maryland with Bradford Gowen and Masa Fukui and organ with Richard Jarvis.  While at the University of Maryland, Mr. Kraus began singing as a countertenor and began pursuing degree work in voice studying with Linda Mabbs and Phylis Bryn-Julson.  He completed a MM in Vocal Performance with an emphasis in Early Music at the University of South Florida where he continued keyboard studies as well.  He received a second Masters in Christian Education with an emphasis in Church Music at Asbury Theological Seminary studying organ with Albin Whitworth and voice with Virginia Bowles.  After Seminary, Mr. Kraus spent two years in Hungary, teaching conversational English in a High School and working with a Hungarian church.

Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Kraus became the Minister of Music at the St. Joseph First United Methodist Church and has been there since 1993.  At the church, Mr. Kraus directs several choirs and ensembles, plays the organ and piano and serves as a minister in other leadership areas of the church.  He is a regular accompanist for area students at music festivals, competitions and recitals.  Mr. Kraus has also composed several sacred cantatas for soloists, choir and orchestra, and various choral, solo vocal, and instrumental works as well.  He is a member of the Board and a performer with the Twin Cities Organ Concert Series.  Mr. Kraus teaches several music courses at Lake Michigan College, and has taught piano and organ privately for nearly thirty years.  He lives in St. Joseph with his lovely wife, Lorie and their two children, Jacob and Esther.

Mr. Kraus has appeared as a countertenor soloist with the University of Maryland Chorus and Festival Orchestra and the University’s Collegium Musicum.  He was a member of the Choir of Men and Boys at the Washington Cathedral and a soloist at All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Chevy Chase, Maryland.  He has appeared as soloist with the Tampa Oratorio Society as well as the University of South Florida’s Chamber Singers and soloed with Musick’s Company, an early music ensemble in Lexington, Kentucky.  Mr. Kraus has worked with several Colleges and Universities in presenting and developing early music programs.  He was a soloist and member of Pro Musica, a chamber choir here in St. Joseph and a member of Opus Nine, another vocal ensemble in the Twin Cities area.