Above: Otakar Kraus as Alberich
Baritone Otakar Kraus (1909–1980) was born at Prague; he later became a naturalized citizen of Great Britain. Kraus made his operatic début as Amonasro at Brno in 1935, and was a member of the Bratislava Opera from 1936 to 1939. At the outbreak of World war II, he moved to Britain and joined the touring Carl Rosa Company in 1940.
As a member of the English Opera Group in 1946, Otakar Kraus created the role of Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne, and later sang the role of the Vicar in Albert Herring, and Lockit in Britten’s realization of The Beggar’s Opera. Kraus created the role of Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at Venice in 1951. For the next 22 years, he was associated with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. There he sang most of the principal baritone parts in addition to creating Diomede in Walton’s Troilus and Cressida in 1954 and King Fisher in Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage the following year. Otakar Kraus sang Alberich in the Ring Cycle at Bayreuth from 1960-1962.
Kraus retired from the stage in 1973 to teach. In that same year, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His pupils have included Robert Lloyd CBE, Sir Willard White, and Sir John Tomlinson.
Otakar Kraus passed away in 1980. The Otakar Kraus Music Trust was founded in his honor.
Oberon's Glade 