Head of the Piano Department at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Norman Krieger, who comes from Los Angeles, is one of the most renowned pianists of his generation and is considered an artist with depth, sensitivity and virtuoso flair. As the Los Angeles Times put it: "Warrior has a world of technique - that's a given. He always knows exactly where he's going and what he's doing. He never miscalculates. He communicates forcefully but with tight control. He's attentive to every kind of nuance, and at every dynamic level his tone is pleasing to the ear." Myung-Whun Chung, Donald Runnicles, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jaap van Zweden and Zubin Mehta are just some of the conductors with whom Krieger has worked.
Krieger performs regularly with major North American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra and the National Symphony. He has performed throughout Europe, Asia and South America, including tours of Germany, France, Poland, Holland, Scandinavia, Korea, China, New Zealand and Israel. He recently performed at the PyeongChang Music Festival in Korea. In September 2014 he recorded the Brahms Sonata Op. 1 and the Piano Concerto No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Philip Ryan Mann, released by Decca.
In concert, Krieger has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico and Asia, while his chamber music collaborations have included performances with soprano Sheri Greenawald, violinists Paul Huang, Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank and Mihaela Martin, violist Nobuko Imai, cellists Myung Wha Chung, Jian Wang, Edward Aaron and Frans Helmersen, and the Tokyo String Quartet. His debuts at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall and the Mostly Mozart Festival immediately earned him an invitation to Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series. Krieger made headlines when he was named the gold medalist of the inaugural Palm Beach Invitational Piano Competition.
He began his studies in Los Angeles under the tutelage of Esther Lipton. At the age of 15, he became an Adele Marcus full scholarship recipient at the Juilliard School, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He then studied with Alfred Brendel and Maria Curcio in London and earned an artist's diploma at the New England Conservatory, where he worked with Russell Sherman. As an advocate of contemporary music, his active repertoire includes the music of John Adams, Leonard Bernstein, John Corigliano, Daniel Brewbaker, Donald Crockett, Judith St. Croix, Lukas Foss, Henri Lazarof and Lowell Liebermann.
Krieger is the founding artistic director of the Prince Albert Music Festival in Hawaii. Since 2008 he has been a summer professor at the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina. From 1997 to 2016 he was a professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. In August 2016, he was named Professor of Piano at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music.