2017 Adjudicators
John Kraus
Woodwinds
Originally from northern Ontario, John is an alumnus of the University of Western Ontario, London, where he studied Music Education. While a student there he studied clarinet with Jerome Summers, Robert Riesling and Robert Sheffield and conducting with Jerome Summers and William Gordon.
He is the current music director and conductor of the Northumberland Orchestra and Choir, and works in many different genres with local and international talents, including violinist Mary Elizabeth Brown, pianist Anastasia Rizikov, and the Sultans of String. John has also been the Music Director of the Clarington Concert Band and was the founding director of both the Durham Chamber Orchestra, and the Lakeridge Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
John has performed as part of funk bands, jazz ensembles, musical theatre pit orchestras, wind bands, orchestras, choirs and chamber ensembles. He is clarinetist with the Lavender Chamber Ensemble.
He has dedicated more than 25 years as an educator working with high school students from around the world, sharing his passion for Music. John has regularly conducted honour high school ensembles as part of the annual Conference of Independent Schools Music Festival (CISMF), held annually each spring at Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto. He continues to work with students, professionals, and amateur adult musicians who may have entered the arena for the first time or who have returned to something that they began as youngsters, working as a volunteer with the Liftlock New Horizons organization, Peterborough, and as an instructor at the Lake Field Music summer camp, Lakefield, Ontario.
As a member of the Ontario Music Educators Association (OMEA), John has led workshops on ‘best practices’, creativity and composition, and technology in the Music classroom. He has worked as a coach with the woodwind section of the La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra, Port Hope, led by Music Director Michael Lyons. John regularly works with ensembles preparing for festivals as well as an adjudicator. He is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators Association (CMFAA).