Jan Kraybill
Jan Kraybill is Principal Organist for the Dome and Spire Organ Foundation, an affiliate of the international headquarters of Community of Christ, in Independence, Missouri, and Organ Conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. She regularly plays and oversees the care of the Kansas City metro area’s three largest pipe organs: Community of Christ Auditorium’s 113-rank Aeolian-Skinner (installed in 1959) and Temple’s 102-rank Casavant (1993), and the 102-rank Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant (2012) in the Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall.
At Community of Christ, Dr. Kraybill and volunteer staff organists provide music for worship services and present free organ demonstration recitals at the Auditorium and Temple, a 55-year tradition in these venues. Jan also leads international hymn festivals, teaches workshops, and is a resource person for the denomination’s musicians. At the Kauffman Center, she performs and hosts guest organists in both solo and collaborative musical events. Jan has piano performance and education degrees from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, and a doctorate in organ performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. In 2010 she earned the Fellow certificate from the American Guild of Organists (AGO), the highest certification available for organists. … Full bio
Jan Kraybill Reviews:
“Jan Kraybill’s exemplary musicianship and the lovely sound of this noble Kansas City instrument make this one of the finest organ recordings I know. Period.” —Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International
“…Jan Kraybill … tackles Widor’s daunting structures with aplomb. … The organ’s tonal subtlety and range of colours are very much in evidence … her playing is always tasteful and proportionate. … Kraybill’s apt registrations and general keyboard wizardry turns her into something of a Prospero figure, very much in command of all that she surveys. … Kraybill’s playing is always refined, and she brings out the music’s inner voices with ease and good humour.… the joy that peals forth in the final seconds is a perfect metaphor for this recital as a whole; a triumph for all concerned. Only once before have I encountered an organ recording worthy of the term ‘a perfect storm’ … Frankly, these two albums blow all others into the proverbial weeds. Pure magic; my store of enchanted objects has just increased by one.” —Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International
“It’s obvious that organist Jan Kraybill, who is the Organ Conservator at the Kauffman Center, knows this organ’s capabilities very well, and as such matches each piece’s character to the best combination of stops possible. I envy her position. Sitting at that console, in command of all that power, must feel like sitting on a rocket.” —Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel
“[Jan Kraybill’s] playing is expressive in the quieter portions and pulls out all the stops when hitting some of the big orchestral-imitation passages in these colorful pieces.…” —John Sunier, Audiophile Audition
“…with extraordinary organist Jan Kraybill at the keyboard, Organ Polychrome is, indeed, a multi-colored showstopper. …” —Patrick Neas, Kansas City Star
“Organ Polychrome: The French School, Ms. Kraybill plays music intended to show off all the power and glory of the Julia Irene Kauffman Organ. She does so splendidly; it is all quite effective. … The instrument sounds rich, wide-ranging, realistically distanced, deep, full-throated, powerful, and lifelike.” —John J. Puccio, Classical Candor
“Kraybill uses the resources at her command discreetly and with understanding and respect for the sonorities that would have been familiar to Saint-Saëns on a Cavaillé-Coll organ of his time.” —Jerry Dubins, Fanfare