A New Father-Son Duo in the UWS’ MET Orchestra

By Lily Seltz

On the afternoon of Thursday, June 4, after two days of auditioning behind a screen, 29-year-old Noah Krauss learned that would become the newest principal cellist at the MET Orchestra. When his parents, Kristen and David Krauss, heard the news, they rushed down to Lincoln Center from their uptown apartment to celebrate with their son.

But Noah’s father David could only stick around for one beer. He had to get to the MET, to warm up for his own part in that night’s opera, playing principal trumpet.

Noah’s successful audition makes the MET one of very few professional orchestras in the world to count a father-son duo among their ranks, according to David Krauss. “It was my dream job, and it’s a dream job for Noah,” David told the Rag. “The odds of something like this happening… are exceedingly rare.”

Noah was born and raised on the Upper West Side, the oldest (along with his twin brother Eli) of four siblings. He and Eli spent their early years tagging along with their mother, Kristen, while she taught violin lessons at the School of Strings at West 54th Street. Of the many instruments that surrounded the Krauss children, Noah was most drawn to the cello, which he began playing at age three.

When Noah was four, his father won his audition at the MET Opera.

Noah and Kristen often sat in the audience during David’s dress rehearsals. “The MET opera sound has been in my ear since I was four years old,” Noah said.

Members of the MET Orchestra might play four different operas in a single week, many of which have runtimes upwards of three or even four hours. Despite David’s short commute—the Krauss family spent several years in a cramped apartment on West 67th Street and Amsterdam, directly across from the MET—he would often return home around 11:30 at night.

But David’s arduous schedule didn’t stop Noah’s parents from supporting his intensifying passion for music.

At age five, Noah insisted on taking up the piano, which he practiced in the early mornings before school to leave the afternoons free for the cello. The Krauss’ upright piano was in the parents’ room: “I would wake up every morning to him practicing scales, after only sleeping for four or five hours.”

In the evenings, Kristen accompanied Noah to his cello lessons and sat with him as he practiced.

Around the same time, Noah also performed in the MET Children’s Chorus, where his father—who grew up on Long Island—also did a stint decades before.

Noah attended the Upper West Side’s Calhoun School for middle and high school, participating in the Juilliard Pre-College program on Saturdays. He then attended Juilliard as an undergraduate and masters student, allowing him to continue living at home on the Upper West Side.

His first year as a masters student coincided with the Covid pandemic, which pushed classes online—an especially suboptimal format for music education. The pandemic stopped the music industry in its tracks, and Noah graduated to “no jobs and no auditions,” Kristen said.

Even as the impacts of the pandemic receded, the audition process was still defined by grueling effort and frequent disappointment. “There were a few times where I would end an audition and [think], ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’” Noah said. But his parents “saw me through all my successes and failures.”

In the years following his graduation, Noah filled in at the MET Orchestra for a handful of performances —playing alongside his father for the first time in a professional context.

In 2025, Noah joined the cello section at the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. His appointment came at an inopportune time: the NSO’s longtime home is the Kennedy Center for the Arts, which President Donald Trump is attempting to shutter for at least two years.

Early this year, Noah decided to audition for a principal role at the MET—his third audition for the ensemble, but his first shot at a soloist position. To prepare, he had to learn some of the most difficult cello excerpts in the opera repertoire. “It was a long seven weeks,” Noah said.

The MET’s audition process is conducted anonymously from start to finish. As Noah played from behind a screen, he didn’t necessarily feel optimistic—“There’s so many things out of your control”—but he felt confident in his preparation, and he played “like there was nothing to lose.”

“I think that was also coupled with the Knicks doing really well,” Noah added. “I did kind of have that Jalen Brunson mindset. Keep your head down, trust the work.”

When the screen came down at the end of Noah’s audition, he was met with a slew of familiar faces. “I think there were 16 or 17 people on the panel. I knew every single one of them,” he said. “They just gave me a hug. I’m lucky to be going into such a supportive family already.”

David’s happy to have Noah back in New York, calling it a “homecoming.” “As any parent, having a child move home is a huge deal—much less home to the same orchestra,” he said.

Is there anything David is nervous about? Noah’s “a much better musician than I am,” David said. (Noah disputes this.)

“As trumpet players, we’re used to being fairly exposed and being judged, but… now my son is going to be one of those people.”

“I’m sure he’ll be pretty diplomatic about it,” David continued. But “everybody else in the orchestra keeps their mouth shut. He can say whatever he wants to.”

He’ll be talking to his dad, after all.

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