Christiaan Crans

Christiaan Crans is a versatile musician sought after as vocal coach, teacher, pianist and conductor in opera houses and festivals throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America. He has been on staff at the Paris Opera, the Salzburg Festspiel, the National Theater of Mannheim Germany, the Cincinnati Opera, The Des Moines Metro Opera, the Sarasota Opera, Summer Opera Tel Aviv, Manhattan School of Music, and the Caramoor Festival in NY. His students sing regularly at renowned opera houses such as New York’s Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Berlin Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, Hamburg, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Arena di Verona. In 2000 Crans made his Carnegie Hall debut, accompanying Metropolitan Opera soprano, Jennifer Welch-Babidge.

Equally comfortable in opera and theater, Crans music-directed the operas and musicals at Colorado State University as Assistant Professor of Music from 2019-2021. Before that he had a long tenure at the National Theater in Mannheim Germany as conductor, pianist, and assistant to the General Music Director, Dan Ettinger. In Germany he conducted many performances of operas ranging from Mozart to Puccini and Prokofiev and musicals such as the German premier of Avenue Q and Sondheim’s Company. At the National Theater he had the opportunity to collaborate with such artists as Jonas Kauffmann, Maria Guleghina, Krassimira Stoyanova, Lise Lindstrom, Thomas Hampson, Jose Cura, Olga Peretyatko, and Erwin Schrott. He has been on the music staff at prestigious festivals such as the Salzburger Festspiel, where he served as associate music director for a new production of Le nozze di Figaro, and Castell Peralada (Spain) where he led rehearsals for a new production of Madama Butterfly starring Ermonela Jaho and Bryan Hymel. In pre-Covid 2020, Christiaan worked at L’Opèra de Paris (Bastille) as associate conductor of a new production of Massenet’s Manon starring Pretty Yende, Benjamin Bernheim, and Stephen Costello. His significant Covid-cancellation was another engagement at the Peralada Festival (Spain) to lead rehearsals of Aida starring Piotr Beczala, Sondra Radvanovsky, Erwin Schrott, and Anita Rachvilishvili.

Crans has played recitals with vocalists in 24 of the 50 States as well as Mexico and has conducted performances at the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Vermont Opera, Indiana University, and the Chamber Ensemble of Utah. He has been on the music Staff of the Sarasota Opera, the Pensacola Opera, the Caramoor Festival, the Cincinnati Opera, and the Utah Festival Opera.

Crans has taught regularly at the Summer Opera in Tel Aviv, Israel, serving as both voice teacher and conductor. There he has conducted gala concerts with the Natanya Kibbutz Orchestra of Israel and led performances of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Massenet’s Cendrillon, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea.

Crans holds degrees in piano and conducting from Brigham Young University, Manhattan School of Music, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.