Robert Craft (b1923)

Robert Craft has conducted and recorded with most of the world’s major orchestras in the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. He is the first American to have conducted Berg’s Wozzeck and Lulu, and his original Webern album enabled music lovers to become acquainted with this composer’s then little-known music. He led the world premières of Stravinsky’s later masterpieces: In Memoriam: Dylan Thomas, Vom Himmel hoch, Agon, The Flood, Abraham and Isaac, Variations, Introitus, and Requiem Canticles. Craft’s historic association with Igor Stravinsky, as his constant companion, co-conductor, and musical confidant, over a period of more than twenty years, contributed to his understanding of the composer’s intentions in the performance of his music. He remains the primary source for our perspectives on Stravinsky’s life and work.

In addition to his special command of Stravinsky’s and Schoenberg’s music, Robert Craft is well-known for his recordings of works by Monteverdi, Gesualdo, Schütz, Bach, and Mozart. He is also the author of more than two dozen books on music and the arts, including the highly acclaimed Stravinsky: Chronicle of a Friendship; The Moment of Existence: Music, Literature and the Arts, 1990–1995; Places: A Travel Companion for Music and Art Lovers; An Improbable Life: Memoirs; Memories and Commentaries; Down a Path of Wonder: Memoirs of Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Other Cultural Figures (2006); and The Stravinsky I Knew (2011). He lives in Florida and New York.