Today we’d like to introduce you to Franz Anton Krager.
Hi Franz Anton, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1954. My mother was a professional vocalist/pianist & music teacher, and started me on the drums when I was in grammar school. My father worked in the restaurant business with his parents, and our “family business” became one of the great German specialty restaurants in the City of Detroit, in the 50s & 60s – “KRAGERS.” I could have gone in the direction of the family restaurant business. However, I really took to learning how to play the percussion instruments, and studied with several great teachers, all the way through college. In high school, I became student conductor for the band and orchestra. Conducting quickly became a passion for me, but I continued in my percussion studies, as learning to be a musician had to be a prerequisite for a career in conducting. In 1970, I became a student member of Musical Youth International – MYI – (a band & choir) and I toured with them for the next nine years (during the summers) to every inhabited continent in the world. This is where I learned to love international traveling. I also conducted the MYI Band, in 1978, at the Copenhagen Youth Festival (International Competition) and we won First Prize. This experience sealed my passion as a “would-be” conductor. Right after this experience, I was hired as a faculty member at the Interlochen National Music Camp, in Northern Michigan (during the summers), a position that I would enjoy and grow as a professional for the next nine years. I attended the University of Michigan School of Music, in college, and studied percussion and conducting right through my Masters Degree program. My first position, after graduating from Michigan, was as Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Percussion at the University of Missouri-Columbia. My six years there was exciting, but I felt that something was not all-together right for me. I had started to become interested in orchestral conducting because the repertoire was so vast and so stimulating. So, I applied to the Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition, in Berlin, and was accepted as one of five American competitors. I did not win, but the Berliner Morganpost did an exclusive article on the Competition and focused on me as the “impressive blond-haired youth.” This article was rave, and I used it as a resume booster to advance to my next professional position – Music Director of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, in College Station, Texas. It was here that I became a faculty member at Texas A&M University, and met my beautiful wife to be, Deborah. It was also the place that sent me to Italy, in 1987, to teach on a study abroad course, near Florence. This was a life-changer, and I have not missed a year going over to Italy except for the COVID period. Since 1991, when I bought a touring motorcycle and had it shipped it to Italy, my wife and I have seen most of Europe (from Greece to Finland – Portugal to Hungary) all on the back of our motorcycle. Italy also got me started with International guest conducting which I have been engaged in since 1987. I’ve conducted all over Western & Central Europe, Russia, China, Latin America and many other places around the world. In 1992, the University of Houston invited me to become a faculty member in the UH School of Music (now, the Moores School of Music), and to build both the UH and TMF (Texas Music Festival) orchestras into internationally renowned programs. That was 33 years ago, and we’ve done just that. And, our UH & TMF orchestras have consistently recorded on major record labels and been distributed, internationally, over the last three decades. I have always believed that I would live the life that I dreamed of, and it has all become reality for my wife and me, with so much of our joy centered on living here in Houston, Texas.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life is never completely smooth. The biggest struggle I dealt with was at the University of Missouri-Columbia when I decided to try and find a position as an orchestral conductor when most all of my training and experience had been in the band world. I was pushing 30 years old at the time, and I felt that I needed to make the change before I hit 30. My friends, mentors and colleagues all told me that I was not qualified to live this new dream, and that it would a futile attempt for me to change career paths being almost 30, and having been trained in a different area. It was a rough couple of years of questioning my desire and my ability to remake myself as a professional orchestra conductor, and having most everyone in my life telling me that I couldn’t do it. Thank goodness for Mom! She told me that I could do anything that I set my mind to do, and that I should forge ahead and not pay attention to the naysayers. You know the old adage: “Listen to your mother!” I did!! And, I’m really glad that I did!!!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The core of my long career has been in academics. I have been associated with major universities for my entire adult life: The University of Michigan, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston. Since 1972, universities have been my base of operation. This has been the perfect situation for me because universities want their faculty to establish national and international careers, and they are willing to offer you the time, the latitude and the funding to build national and international careers, as long as your required teaching, research and service to the university are not adversely affected. When you make a name for yourself, you also help to maintain the reputation of the university. I am the Director of Orchestras at the UH Moores School of Music. I conduct all performances of the orchestra in the areas of full orchestra, chamber orchestra, opera, ballet and oratorio. I teach the orchestral conducting majors at the Masters and Doctoral levels. These students will be a part of the next generation of teachers and professional conductors locally, nationally and internationally. My conducting studio has an international reputation of being a destination for serious conducting students. Currently, my studio is an international melting pot of talent – four DMA students from four different countries – Greece, Turkey, Brazil and Italy. Many of the graduate students who come to study with me, as conducting majors, aspire to conduct in the academic and professional worlds. My program for educating all of these conducting students is comprehensive. This means that I don’t just teach the musical aspects of conducting, but rather all aspects of a university ensemble directorship or a professional music directorship including the non-musical requirements of leading a modern institution or musical organization. Among these requirements are public speaking, fund-raising, budgets, innovative programming, volunteerism, understanding and implementing policies, working with colleagues and supervisors, keeping a strong community presence, establishing working relationships with music educators, managing media, personnel issues and politics. My students understand that innovation is the key to the future and that the old “business as usual” will not be adequate for them in terms of their keeping their jobs.
When I am not teaching on campus, I am guest conducting in any number of places locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. I am known for being a professional conductor specializing in the classics, popular music, and new music. I have done this all over the world with orchestras big and small. Since making my prize-winning European conducting debut in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Koncertsalen in 1978, I have led orchestras in Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Town Hall and Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham, Moscow’s State Kremlin Palace, Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, the Sydney Opera House, The Hague’s Congresgebouw, Zagreb’s Lisinski Concert Hall, Guangzhou China’s Xinghai Music Center, Hungary’s Kodály Centre, Kazan’s State Philharmonic Hall in Russia, Guadalajara’s Degollado Theater, and Sarasota’s Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. My affiliations with leading music festivals include the Dubrovnik Summer Festival in Croatia, Lancaster International Concert Series, Lichfield and Aberystwyth International Arts Festivals in the U.K., the Festival Internacional de Santa Lucía in Mexico, and the Texas Music Festival and Interlochen National Music Camp in the U.S. I’ve led the Houston, Russian State, Slovak National, Dubrovnik, Traverse City Michigan and Florida West Coast symphonies, Romanian and Kazan State philharmonics, and orchestras in Washington, Berlin, London, Chicago, Paris, Singapore, Leipzig, Zagreb, Monterrey, Pécs, Grosseto, Pordenone, Ingolstadt, Chichester, Neuss, and Honolulu. I am the Music Director & Chief Conductor of the Texas Music Festival and Founding Co-Artistic Director for the Virtuosi of Houston. I’m also the Hourani Endowed Professor of Music, Director of Orchestras, and Chair of the Conducting Department at the University of Houston Moores School of Music, where I have brought the orchestra and orchestral conducting program into international prominence. Our UH Moores School Symphony Orchestra has proudly recorded on the Navona, Divine Art (Métier), Albany, MSR Classics, ArsPublica, Newport, and HDTT record labels.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan in the 50s & 60s. I was a serious student who always avoided trouble when I could. I didn’t necessarily go around with the “cool group” in middle and high school because I was always practicing in the band room, and did not have the time for socializing much. I am a Taurus, so I have always been sure of myself, making quick decisions and with a confident outlook. Music was my life when I was growing up. When I was not practicing or performing, I was working in our family restaurant, as a busboy. When not working, I enjoyed watching the Gold Cup Races on the Detroit River (with the unlimited hydroplanes), Boblo Island, Tiger baseball, Detroit Symphony concerts, Henry Ford Museum, family vacations to Canada (especially to Niagara Falls) and eating well (having grown up in the restaurant business). Traveling and fine dining are two of the staples of my adult life, having come directly from my childhood experiences.
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