Today we’d like to introduce you to Jan Kraybill.
Hi Jan, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m proud to be a very active Kansas City-based musician! Here in KC I’m the organ conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and organist-in-residence at the international headquarters of Community of Christ in Independence, Missouri. In these roles I get to plays and coordinate the care of three of our metro area’s largest pipe organs: the 6,445-pipe organ built in 1959 by the American company Aeolian-Skinner for Community of Christ Auditorium, the 5,685-pipe organ built in 1993 by the French-Canadian firm Casavant Frères for Community of Christ Temple, and the Kauffman Center’s 5,548-pipe organ built by Casavant Frères in 2012.
Throughout my career I’ve had many opportunities to perform as both a solo and collaborative musician and to teach workshops on a variety of topics. While in high school in Colby, Kansas, I was invited to play my first European piano recital in Andover, England. Since then, I’ve performed in many venues in North America and Europe, and in Australia, Russia, South Korea, and Tahiti. Multiple tours of the United Kingdom have included organ concerts at the grand cathedrals of Chester, Exeter, and St. Paul’s in London. In 2015, I designed and led a hymn festival at the International Gathering of Hymn Societies at Cambridge University. I’ve been a featured artist and teacher at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the American Choral Directors Association, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and other musicians’ organizations, and my recordings have been heard on many broadcasts of American Public Media’s national program Pipedreams. I’ve collaborated with ensembles including the Bach Aria Soloists, the Phoenix Chorale, Kantorei Denver, the GRAMMY-winning Kansas City Chorale, the GRAMMY-nominated Kansas City Symphony and Symphony Chorus, and others.
Several solo CDs and collaborative recordings are available. Most recently, I’ve had the pleasure of recording with Reference Recordings, both as a solo artist and with the Kansas City Symphony on several occasions. Our disc containing Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2015. My solo album The Orchestral Organ received three nominations for GRAMMY awards in 2020, including Best Classical Instrumental Solo. What a thrill that was!
My degrees in music education and piano and organ performance are from Kansas State University and the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. In 2010 I took many written and performance tests and earned the certification of Fellow of the AGO, the highest certification level available for organists. I’ve served in many elected and volunteer roles at local, regional, and national levels in the AGO, The Hymn Society, and the Master Teacher Institute, most recently as Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada. When I’m not making music, I enjoy travel, antiquing, lace making, and riding my Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As is true of all musicians that I know, there have definitely been challenges along my way! For many years at the beginning of my career, I had to work in other fields to fund my music-making. I’m grateful to have been a full-time musician since 1998. There have been musical challenges, when for instance a rehearsal, recording session, or performance hasn’t gone as smoothly as I’d have liked. There have certainly been travel delays, lost luggage, etc. And there have been various life challenges: health, relationships, jobs, finances, etc. But I choose to focus on gratitude, and there is so much for which to be grateful. I love my current mix of a career full of music-making opportunities, both here in Kansas City and beyond.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m told by audiences that what sets me apart is a certain approachability that they perceive in my spoken comments during and after concerts, and an expressive nature that makes my performances memorable and moving. I’m proud of that, because I truly believe that shared musical moments have the power to affect individual lives for the better and to create a sense of community together.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love Kansas City, and I’m so glad that life circumstances have kept me here! I especially appreciate the support that our arts organizations, performers, and students enjoy from generous donors who have enabled a thriving arts culture in our city. One great example is the Kauffman Center, its staff, and its volunteers — I love that such a beautiful venue exists in our midst, that it is such a friendly place, and that it consistently presents and inspires excellent and enthusiastic performances. There are many other examples in our city. The arts are alive here, and we who live here are so fortunate!
What I like least: the reluctance that we Kansas Citians have regarding telling others about what makes our hometown so great. We are our own worst critics!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jankraybill.com
