In 2005 Opera News called her "a gifted mezzo and observant, imaginative actress who lent distinction to a wide range of character roles.
"[1] Born in Menasha, Wisconsin on January 9, 1927,[2][3] Kraft began her career working as pianist as a teenager and was also a proficient clarinet and trumpet player.
She later continued with further studies under Theodore Harrison in Chicago, William Ernest Vedal in Munich, and Povla Frijsh in New York City.
[5] She made her professional opera debut on February 18, 1960 as the Mother in Hugo Weisgall's Six Characters in Search of an Author at the NYCO with Beverly Sills as The Coloratura.
[6] She appeared with the NYCO in several more productions during the 1960s including, Miss Jessel in Britten's The Turn of the Screw (1962),[7] the Forewoman in Charpentier's Louise (1962),[8] Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1962),[9] Maud Lowder in Douglas Moore's The Wings of the Dove (1962),[10] Death in Stravinsky's The Nightingale (1963),[11] Flora in Verdi's La traviata (1963),[12] Sarah Chicken in Robert Ward's The Lady from Colorado (1964),[13] and Penelope in Menotti's Help, Help, the Globolinks!
Her other performances with the company during these years included Marcellina (1965); Thisbe in Rossini's La cenerentola (1966); Madame de Croissy in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites (1966); Mother Goose in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1966); Maddalena in Verdi's Rigoletto (1966); Margret in Alban Berg's Wozzeck (1966); Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (1968); the Third Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute (1968); Annina in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier; and Ninon in the United States premiere of Penderecki's The Devils of Loudun (1969) among others.
She made her Met debut on February 7, 1970, as Flora in La Traviata with Gabriella Tucci as Violetta, Nicolai Gedda as Alfredo, Robert Merrill as Germont, and Francesco Molinari-Pradelli conducting.
[1] Kraft became a favorite at the Met very quickly in roles like Emilia in Verdi's Otello, the drug-addicted Mrs. Sedley in Britten's Peter Grimes, and Mamma Lucia in Franco Zeffirelli's production of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana.
Some of the many supporting roles she portrayed were Berta in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia (with Marilyn Horne), Countess di Coigny in Giordano's Andrea Chénier, the Duchesse of Krakentorp in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment (with Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland), Gertrude in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Grandmother Buryjovka in Janáček's Jenůfa (with Astrid Varnay), Hecuba in Les Troyens by Berlioz (with Jon Vickers and Shirley Verrett), Ines in Verdi's Il Trovatore, Marcellina (with Teresa Stratas and Frederica von Stade), Marthe in Gounod's Faust (with Franco Corelli), Ninetta in Verdi's I Vespri Siciliani (with Cristina Deutekom), and the Madrigalist in Puccini's Manon Lescaut (with Dorothy Kirsten and John Alexander) among others.
Her final and 784th performance at the Met was on April 5, 1989 as Larina in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin with Mirella Freni as Tatiana, Jorma Hynninen in the title role, and conductor James Levine.
Her roles with the company during these years included Flora (1970), Mother Goose (1970), Marcellina (1970, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1987), Penelope (1970), Death (1970), Suzuki (1972), Lapérouse in the United States Premiere of Aribert Reimann's Melusine (1972), Herodias (1972, 1979), Kate Julian in Britten's Owen Wingrave (1973), Countess Geschwitz in Berg's Lulu (1974), the Third Lady (1974, 1984, 1986), Meg Page in Verdi's Falstaff (1975, 1977), Genevieve in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1977), Larina (1980), Berta (1981), Miss Pick in Hindemith's News of the Day (1981), the notary's wife in Strauss's Intermezzo (1984), May in the U.S. premiere of Henze's We Come to the River (1984), and Juno in the world premiere of John Eaton's The Tempest (1985).