The German conductor Felix Krieger (born in Freiburg i.Br.) began learning viola and piano at an early age and began piano studies in 1988 at the Musikhochschule Freiburg, before transferring to the Musikhochschule Hamburg, where he studied conducting with Klauspeter Seibel. During his studies he conducted several opera productions at the Forum Junges Musiktheater Hamburg. A winner of the Competition for Young European Conductors, Mr Krieger completed his studies in the master class of Carlo Maria Giulini at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole from 1999 to 2001. He also was a scholarship holder of the Oskar and Vera Ritter Stiftung and the Richard Wagner Verband.
Backstage with Carlo Maria Giulini
in the Teatro Verdi in Florence, 2001
After assisting with the New Year’s Eve concert 1995 of the Berlin Philharmonic, he was engaged by Claudio Abbado as his musical assistant in Berlin from 1996 to 1998. Mr Krieger also served as Maestro Abbado’s assistant for Wozzeck at the Salzburg Festival 1997 and Falstaff at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin in 1998.
With Claudio Abbado in the Philharmonie Berlin,
2004 (© Cordula Groth)
From 2000 until 2003 he was engaged as First Kapellmeister at the Bielefeld Opera, conducting his own productions of Werthér and Coppélia as well as several performances of Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, Hansel und Gretel, Il Trovatore, La Cenerentola, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lulu, Rusalka and Otello.
From 2003 to 2006 he was a regular conductor at Berlin’s State Opera where he conducted the Staatskapelle Berlin in several performances (Without words, Swan Lake, Ein Lindentraum)
Felix Krieger has conducted Symphony concerts with several German and international orchestras including the Athens State Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Bochumer Symphoniker, Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Hamburger Symphoniker, Münchener Rundfunkorchester, Orchestra Sinfonica del Lazio e di Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Neubrandenburger Philharmoniker, Pamplona Symphony Orchestra, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia of the Nations, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden und Freiburg and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in cooperation with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
In addition, he has led opera productions at the State Opera Kassel (The Merry Widow), with Chelsea Opera Group in London (Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini by Rachmaninov, Les pecheurs de perles, Idomeneo) and at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon (The Magic Flute) as well as Haensel and Gretel at the State Opera Stuttgart.
Krieger was included in the Primi-Divi annual nominations for 2006/07 in the categories Best Conductor and Best Concert for his concert performance of Idomeneo in London’s Cadogan Hall with COG.
He has led a new production of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen at Cape Town Opera in Autumn 2009, and conducted Swan Lake at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2010. Recently, in Spring 2011, he had his debut at Oslo Opera with Don Quichotte.
Felix Krieger is Artistic Director of the berliner operngruppe discovering rarely played operas in concert once a year. In May 2010 Krieger and the BOG performed the German premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s first opera Oberto, Conte di San Bonifacio in Berlin with Francesco Ellero d´Artegna in the title role, in May 2011 they played Donizetti’s Maria di Rohan with Iride Martinez singing the role of Maria. In May 2012 they will perform the German premiere of Donizetti’s Marino Faliero.
Recent engagements included Bach’s St. John Passion at San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome with Gaechinger Kantorei and Bach Collegium Stuttgart as well as his debut in the Philharmonie Berlin in June 2011 with the RIAS JO. This was the official memorial concert for the victims of the Second World War exactly 70 years after the invasion of the Soviet Union. The RIAS JO and Krieger performed Schostakovich’s Symphony VII. (Leningrad).
Felix Krieger is Musical Director of a major project in Sao Paulo dedicated to German orchestral music, called the Projeto musica orquestral alema, organized by the biggest conservatory in South America and the oldest in Brazil, the Conservatorio de Tatui. In collaboration with musicians of the finest South American Orchestra, OSESP in Sao Paulo, they will perform in 7 different programmes between December 2011 and December 2012 with one main orchestral piece from each of the great German composers from Bach to Schönberg. Concerts will take place not only in usual concert venues but also in some favelas, playing for people with disadvantaged social backgrounds.
In October 2011 Krieger will perform in the USA for the first time, conducting the Polyphony Chamber Orchestra on its second US tour in Atlanta and New York