American-born conductor Franz Anton Krager has made his artistic presence felt at home and abroad in some of the world's most celebrated concert halls. Since his prize-winning European debut at Copenhagen's Tivoli Koncertsalen in 1978, he has led orchestras at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Moscow's State Kremlin Palace, Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, Birmingham's Adrian Boult Hall, Guangzhou's Xinghai Music Center, the Sydney Opera House, The Hague's Congresgebouw, Kazan's State Philharmonic Hall, Guadalajara's Degollado Theater, and Sarasota's Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

A graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Krager joined the faculty of the University of Houston Moores School of Music in 1992 with a mandate to build both the orchestral program and the Texas Music Festival into nationally recognized institutions. He holds the Hourani Endowed Professorship in Music, serves as Chair of the Conducting Department and Director of Orchestras, and conducts the full range of Moores School performance programs — orchestra, chamber orchestra, opera, and ballet. The Moores School Symphony Orchestra is heard frequently on National Public Radio and has recorded the music of Thomas Fortmann, Percy Grainger, Michael Horvit, Peter Lieuwen, Robert Nelson, and Stephanie Ann Boyd.

Krager serves as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival, which has grown under his leadership into one of the premier summer training festivals in the country. He is also Artist-in-Residence at The Kinkaid School and an Evaluator and Clinician for the Orchestra America National Festival. In 1995 he co-founded Virtuosi of Houston, where he continues to serve as Founding Artistic Director and Conductor alongside Andrzej Grabiec.

University of Houston Moores School of Music