Francisco Kraus

Francisco Kraus Trujillo (21 October 1926 – 27 February 2016) was a Spanish baritone.

He was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Canary Islands), Spain, on 21 October 1926. His father, Otto Kraus, was born in Austria and Francisco was the first born of the Kraus-Trujillo family; soon would follow Alfredo, Enriqueta Lola and Carmen.

He and his brother Alfredo began their training with María Suárez Fiol, (born in Madrid, 1897 – died in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1987). The first songs in front of an audience were in the house of his teacher, where Mrs Fiol organized benefit concerts. He started singing in the Choir of the School of the Heart of Maria, and made an audition for Soloists in the Philharmonic Society of Las Palmas. After coming back from Barcelona, Francisco married his fiancé Enedina Kraus. He studied Voice technique in Milan with famous teacher and Soprano Mercedes Llopart. Mrs Llopart’s legacy of exquisite technique and knowledge of voice production was passed on to her students, Alfredo Kraus, Renata Scotto, Anna Moffo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco, Greek soprano Elena Suliotis, Venezuelan coloratura soprano Cecilia Nuñez Albanese, and Francisco Kraus. Francisco’s baritone voice has a wide vocal range, up to a high B with powerful bright, dark, rich notes, placed high in the mask.

In December 1960, Francisco made his Debut in the “Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi” in Trieste with the Moussorgsky opera Khovanshchina in the role of Shaklovity and using the stage name Franco di Marco. Later he continued singing Enrico of Lucia di Lammermoor, Valentin of the opera Faust, and Germont of La Traviata. He returned to Spain where he appeared with the “Festivales of Spain” in La Coruña. He made his debut in the “Teatro de la Zarzuela” in Madrid with the Compañía Lírica Nacional with great success. With this same Company he made a tour of Spain with identical results. In 1962 he formed his own company and toured Spain for four years, singing zarzuela: La Bruja, La Tabernera del Puerto, Katiuska, El Huésped del Sevillano, La Calesera, La Rosa del Azafrán, La del Soto del Parral, and other works of the repertoire with artists like Amparo Azcón, Celia Langa, Pilarín Alvarez, Rosa Gil, Fina Gessa, María Pastor, Eduardo Bermúdez, Enrique del Portal, José Luis Cancela and Andrés García Martí, under the baton of the Maestros Jose Terol and Mariano de las Heras. In Madrid, in June 1963, he performed several presentations of the opera Marina, by the Spanish composer Emilio Arrieta. The performances took place in El Parque del Retiro, with his brother Alfredo.

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