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California Institute of the Arts

Ulrich Krieger

Pronouns: The Herb Alpert School of Music

Faculty, Composition and Experimental Sound Practices

Ulrich Krieger Headshot
Email address: ukrieger@calarts.edu
Phone number: 661-253-7758
Office address:
B222
California Institute of the Arts
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, California 91355
Degrees:
  • Manhattan School of Music
  • Universitat der Kunste, Berlin
  • Freie Universitat, Berlin
Personal website: Website

Ulrich Krieger is a composer, performer, improviser and experimental rock musician. His main instruments are saxophones, clarinets, didjeridu and electronics. He calls his style of playing ‘acoustic electronics,’ using sounds, that appear to be electronic, but are produced on acoustic instruments and then sometimes electronically treated, blurring the borders between the fields. 

Krieger transcribed Lou Reed’s (in)famous Metal Machine Music for chamber ensemble and works with groups like Text of Light (with Lee Ranaldo) and zerfall-gebiete (with Thomas Köner) in the nirvana between experimental rock, ambient and contemporary composition. Born 1962, in Freiburg, Germany, he lived in Berlin from 1983-2007 with longer residencies in the USA and Italy from 1991-97. 

In September 2007 he moved to California, where he is professor for composition and experimental sound practice at California Institute of the Arts. He studied classical saxophone, composition, electronic music and musicology at the Manhattan School of Music (NYC), the Universität der Künste (Berlin) and the Freie Universität (Berlin), as well as pursuing independent studies and research in the didjeridu and Australian Aboriginal music and culture. 

Krieger has worked with Lou Reed, Lee Ranaldo, Phill Niblock, David First, Thomas Köner, Alan Licht, Michiko Hirayama, Witold Szalonek, Mario Bertoncini, Miriam Marbe, Seth Josel, Zbigniew Karkowski, Merzbow, zeitkratzer and many others performing in Europe, North-America, Asia and Australia. 

His works are being performed by the California EAR Unit, zeitkratzer, KontraTrio, Soldier String Quartet, Wandelweiser Ensemble, and many others. Krieger received grants from the German DAAD program, the Darmstadter Summer Courses for New Music, the city of Berlin and many others and was a Composer-In-Residence at Villa Aurora (Los Angeles), Villa Serpentara (Rome), German Research Centre Venice (Italy), University of East Anglia (England), the City of Bologna (Italy) and the Music Centre North Queensland (Australia). 

He has released over 50 CDs of his original compositions, improvisations, with his groups and as a collaborator with many musicians.