Michael Krausz's mother, pianist and composer Susan Krausz, was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany. She received a Diploma from the Musikhochschule Stuttgart in 1933, where she studied piano with Walter Rehberg. After immigrating to Switzerland, further study followed with Edwin Fischer and Dinu Lipatti. She made solo appearances on Radio Basel, Lausanne, and Geneva. In Basel she met and married violist and conductor Laszlo Krausz. The couple regularly performed together, including a regular duo cycle over Radio Geneva. They had two children, Peter (born in 1938) and Michael (born in 1942).
Upon her arrival in New York City in 1947 Susan Krausz taught piano, accompanied at the New York College of Music, and earned two piano teaching certificates from the Teachers College at Columbia University. In 1948, she and her children moved to Cleveland to join her husband, then newly appointed to the Cleveland Orchestra. Susan Krausz served on the faculty of the Cleveland Music School Settlement from 1949 to 1955. She received the M.A. degree from Western Reserve University in 1956, studying piano with Leonard Shure and composition with Marcel Dick. She also received instruction in composition from Nicolai Lopatnikoff. From 1966 to 1992 she was Lecturer in Piano at Case Western Reserve University.
As piano soloist she performed with numerous orchestras, as well as performed over New York Radio, other local radio stations, and National Public Television. Her piano works were published by Edwin Kalmus Music Publishers. Krausz was a member of the Cleveland Composers Guild, and she was a prizewinner for her piano musical compositions at Mu Phi Epsilon Music Foundation.
Susan Krausz taught privately until the day before she died, at the age of 93. From her older son Peter, four grandchildren and six great grandchildren survived her.
Papers, diaries, photographs, recordings, and compositions for the piano are housed in the Krausz Archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society:
c/o Margaret Burzynski-Bays, Curator of Manuscripts
Library/Archives and Genealogy Center
10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH, 44106
Telephone: (216) 721-5722, ext. 275
Link for papers
Link for photographs
Selected Compositions by Susan Krausz