- Inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1990.
- His works have been performed by many major American orchestras as well as those in Europe, Japan, Korea, China, Australia, Israel, and the USSR.
- His 'Encounter' solo series has been recorded multiple times on all appropriate instruments. On Encounters he worked with guitarist John Schneider. Encounters II showcases unique techniques for tuba such as multi-phonics double pedal range. In 2010, the Los Angeles Philharmonic released a recording on DG Concerts of the Timpani Concerto No. 1 featuring Joseph Pereira as soloist with John Adams conducting.
- Beginning in the 1955/1956 season, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a member of the orchestra for 25 years, the first eight as a percussionist and the last 17 as the chief timpanist.
- Although percussion works feature prominently in his catalog, in 1996-1998 he concentrated on composing his first opera, Red Azalea.
- He recorded Histoire du soldat under Stravinsky's supervision and played the American premieres of Stockhausen's Zyklus and Boulez's Le marteau sans maître as a percussion soloist.
- He grew up in San Diego and joined the United States Air Force for three years in the later part of World War II. He later became an arranger for dance bands and discovered the musical programs at Tanglewood, which he has often said, forever changed his life.
- He created and conducted the Los Angeles Percussion Ensemble during his early years in Los Angeles, a group that was instrumental in the premieres and recordings of works by prominent composers such as Ginastera, Harrison, Krenek, Stravinsky, Varèse, and others.
- At Columbia University, he received two Anton Seidl Fellowships and earned a bachelor's degree cum laude in 1951 and a master's degree in 1954.
- He joined the Dallas Symphony in 1954 and went to Los Angeles after one season.
- During his time in New York, Kraft worked as a freelance musician and had the opportunity to collaborate with some of the most well-known artists of the time.
- He was an iconic composer, conductor, teacher, timpanist, and percussionist.
- Working as a freelancer was a lot of fun for Kraft. He played percussion and directed for Ondine, as well as serving as an additional percussionist for the Metropolitan Opera.
- Compact discs completely devoted to Kraft's music can be found on Harmonia Mundi, CRI, Cambria, Crystal, Albany, and Nonesuch labels. Other works can be found on GM, Crystal, London Decca, Townhall, EMI, and Neuma. Recent works include Brazen, commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; Quintessence Revisited and Concerto for Four Percussion Soloists and Symphonic Wind Ensemble, premiered and recorded by the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Frank Battisti conducting.
- Kraft's Contextures: Riots - Decade '60 (1967) has been choreographed and performed by both the Scottish National Ballet and the Minnesota Dance Company.
- In the 1960s and 1970s, most of Kraft's compositions were serial, while in the 1980s he incorporated jazz rhythms and impressionist harmonies.
- Composition with Jack Beeson and Henry Cowell, orchestration with Henry Brant, percussion with Morris Goldenberg, timpani with Saul Goodman, and conducting with Rudolph Thomas and Fritz Zweig were among his studies.
- Until his retirement in June 2002, he was chairman of the composition department and holder of the Corwin Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
- In 1986, United Airlines commissioned a work expressly to accompany a lumetric sculpture by Michael Hayden titled Sky's the Limit, for their pedestrian passageway at Chicago-O'Hare International Airport.
- Kraft served as the Philharmonic's Composer-in-Residence from 1981 to 1985, during which time he also founded and directed the Philharmonic's New Music Group.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content