
Jonathan Craft is a passionate and versatile pianist, conductor, and music director who has worked professionally across the North American continent for nearly two decades.
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Jonathan was the Associate Music Director for the first national tour of "Cats" from 2019-2020, where he served as the show's associate conductor and keys3 player. He was among the first cohort of touring musicians to resume performances after the Covid-19 shutdown, serving once again as the AMD for the second national tour of "Cats" from 2021-2022. He concluded his time with "Cats" as the vacation AMD sub during the show's third and final touring season in 2023.
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A proud native of Houston, Texas, Jonathan has performed with many of the top-tier orchestras, theaters, and ensembles of the Southeast Texas region, including Theatre Under The Stars, A.D. Players Theatre, Stages Theatre, the Queensbury Theatre, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the Austin Summer Pops, the ECHO Orchestra, and Lone Star Lyric Theatre (among many others!).
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In addition to "Cats," Jonathan's conducting credits include "Fiddler On The Roof" (A.D. Players), "Frozen" (TUTS, assoc. conductor), "She Loves Me" (University of Houston), and "The Wizard Of Oz" (A.D. Players).
At the collegiate level, Jonathan has a long-standing partnership with Sam Houston State University. He served as music director for their productions of "Carrie" in 2024 and "American Idiot" in 2022, both of which earned him awards for Meritorious Distinction in Music Direction from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He has also music directed for the University of Houston ("She Loves Me" in 2025, "Shakespeare In Love" in 2024) and the University of St. Thomas ("Twelfth Night" in 2016, "All In The Timing" in 2017).
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Jonathan is also an accomplished composer and arranger. His "Dreams, Yearning" for horn & piano was commissioned by eminent horn player Thomas Bacon in 2007, and is currently published by WaveFront Music. He made his film score debut in 2024, writing music for Blossom 21 Production's short film "You Do You"; this project earned him a certificate of excellence from the Southern Shorts Awards film festival. As an arranger, some of his favorite projects have been collaborations with musical theatre triple-threat and comedienne Holland Vavra.
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Jonathan was educated at Boston University and the Royal College of Music (London). He still proudly calls Houston his home, where he lives with his husband and their four cats.