THE KRAICHY
AND ERICKSON HARP AND VIOLIN DUO
Barbara
Kraichy, harp; Ron Erickson, violin
The
Kraichy Duo began in Florida about fifteen years ago. When Barbara’s
violinist and husband passed away in the late 1990s, she invited Ron,
whom she had worked with in Seattle in their youth, to try out the
area if he wasn’t permanently attached to his location in San
Francisco. They hit it off and the Kraichy Duo was reborn.
Ron trained
with Galamian at the Juilliard School after leaving Seattle in 1963.
He and his family made their way to California in the late 1960s.
He established himself in the San Francisco area as a premier violinist
with wide-ranging musical tastes, leading to commercial recording
of American chamber music, much modern music, and a dedication to
Baroque period performance, as instructor at the University of California
in Berkeley. Concertmaster for several orchestras during his thirty
years in the Bay Area, he maintained various concert and entertainment
groups. While on tour with the Western Opera Company in 1992, he
visited the Everglades, and now continues his teaching and playing
as a resident of Ft. Myers.
Barbara
trained with master harpist Marcel Grandjany at the
Manhattan School, then worked for a year in Europe for the Royal Theatre of
Copenhagen and several orchestras. She settled in Winnipeg, Canada, with her
husband after a tour with the Clebanoff Strings. After fifteen years with the
symphony orchestra there, they moved to a better opportunity and climate in
Naples, Florida, joining the Philharmonic Orchestra in its early years. By
nature of their instrument, harpists often work in two worlds; along with her
orchestral
work she has been featured at hotel venues in Las Vegas and New York City.
THE
KRAICHY AND ERICKSON HARP AND VIOLIN DUO is in demand for weddings,
church services, country club events, business conferences, and receptions,
as well as for noon-time concerts at residential centers – in
other words, wherever professional music is needed in the area. Both
musicians also work independently as free-lancers with the local orchestras
and maintain studios of instruction.
