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 Years 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)
Since 2008 Krieger he has been engaged as the Principal musical assistant to Daniele Gatti for Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival.
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, German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Hamburg Symphonic, Munic Radio Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica del Lazio e di Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Neubrandenburg Philharmonic, Pamplona Symphony Orchestra, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, 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 the 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 the COG.
Recently this season 2009/10 he conducted concerts with the Philharmonic of the Nations in Berlin and with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo as well as he led a new production of Janaceks The Cunning Little Vixen at Cape Town Opera and Swanlake at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
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