Norbert Kraft

Classical guitarist, producer, and educator Norbert Kraft was born in Linz, Austria, on September 21, 1950. His family emigrated to Canada in 1954 and settled in Toronto, where he undertook musical studies at the Royal Conservatory with Carol Van Feggelen, John Mills, and Aaron Shearer. Following his apprenticeship, Norbert Kraft specialized in the romantic and modern repertoires of the 19th and 20th centuries, researching, arranging, and transcribing early works. In 1978, he published a collection of technical exercises under the title Classical Guitar Editions, which the Toronto Conservatory adapted for its students. He met pianist, harpsichordist, and sound engineer Bonnie Silver, with whom he married, and then recorded for the Naxos label. Alongside his teaching activities at New York's Manhattan School and the University of Toronto, the guitarist demonstrated his eclecticism and expertise with the albums Tippett, Britten & Schafer (1989), Plays Spanish and South American Works for Guitar (1990), Vivaldi, Boccherini, Haydn & Rodrigo (1992), Romantic Works for Guitar (1992) and 19th Century Guitar Favourites (1994). In 1994, he founded the Guitar Collection series on the Naxos label, where he served as artistic director and producer. His discography included three volumes of Paganini sonatas for violin and guitar with Moshe Hammer and the albums Guitar Favourites (1997), Bizet: Carmen Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra (1998), Sor: Guitar Music opp. 1-5 (1998) and a new recording of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez with conductor Nicholas Ward, thirteen years after the one he made with Kazuhiro Koizumi. In 2000, he released his complete solo guitar music by Villa-Lobos, followed by Giuliani: Flute and Guitar Duets with Nora Shulman (2002) and The Spanish Guitar (2002). In 2016, Norbert Kraft released Sor: 24 Progressive Lessons, which featured recordings from sessions in 2009, 2012 and 2013, both solo and as a two-guitar duo with Jeffrey McFadden.