Biographical Note
Born in Pécs, Hungary, in 1903, Laszlo Krausz began his musical career playing violin, giving his first public performance at the age of 13. He continued his studies on the instrument at the New Vienna Conservatory in Austria in 1923 and was later accepted into the Vienna State Academy for Music. Krausz became concertmaster of the William Wazek Orchestra and periodically played with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra before leaving for Paris in 1926 to pursue additional musical training. In 1929, he journeyed to Switzerland and began a five year stint with the Basel Symphony while also taking classes at Basel University. Krausz transitioned to the viola in 1935 and soon after became solo violist with the Lausanne Radio Orchestra. He also founded and directed the Lausanne String Orchestra.
In 1938, Krausz became the first solo violist of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet. During this time, he taught at the Geneva Conservatory of Music, guest conducted the Basel Symphony, and performed a series of fifteen viola sonatas with his wife, Susan, a concert pianist and composer, over Geneva radio. Krausz remained in neutral Switzerland during the Second World War, losing both his parents (Simon and Francesca Krausz) in 1944 at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Having seen enough of the horrors of war, he came to the United States in 1947, where he spent some time teaching at the New York College of Music before eventually joining the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. All the while, Krausz continued to develop his skills as an artist, using his spare time to sketch musicians and backstage scenes. His interests and styles changed constantly, ranging from architectural and landscape scenes to abstract expressionism. He always maintained an interest in Jewish and Israeli subjects, including historical prophets and the Kabbalah alphabet.
Once in Cleveland, Krausz served as music director of the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Chamber Orchestra. He also headed the String Ensemble Department at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. In 1959, Krausz earned his masters degree in painting from Western Reserve University. He studied at several local fine arts institutions, including the Cooper School of Art, Pratt Graphic Center, Cleveland Institute of Art, and Skowhegan School of Sculpture and Painting. Upon retiring from the Cleveland Orchestra, Krausz focused his attention almost entirely on painting, teaching at the Cooper School of Art and leading an experimental art study at the Case Institute of Technology. He died in 1979.