Born in Brusque, Santa Catarina, in 1928. He began to study violin with his father and was granted a scholarship at age fifteen to study violin at the Conservatório Brasileiro de Música in Rio de Janeiro, where he also initiated his composition studies with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. In 1948 he won a contest to study with Aaron Copland at the Berkshire Music Center, and afterward with Peter Mennin at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1952 he had the opportunity to study with Ernst Krenek at the International Summer Course in Teresópolis, Brazil, and in 1955 he received a grant from the British Council that allowed him to study with Lennox Berkeley in London. Over the years, Krieger has received several prizes, including first prize in the I Concurso Nacional de Composição sponsored by the Ministry of Culture in 1959, the Prêmio "Golfinho de Ouro" for composition in 1969 and 1988, and the 1994 Prêmio Nacional de Música awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil. His works have been performed regularly in Brazil and abroad, including performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Radiodiffusion Télévision Belge, and the Bayerischen Rundfunk in Munich, among others. In addition to his career as a composer, Krieger has been active as a conductor, music critic, and music administrator. He is the president of the Academia Brasileira de Música, and the organizer and director of the Bienal de Música Contemporânea Brasileira, a festival that has been in existence since 1975.

Selected Works

• Embalos, for wind quintet (1999)
• Sonâncias II, for violin and piano (1981)
• Telas sonoras, for string quartet (1997)
• Te Deum puerorum brasiliae, for chrous, children¹s chorus, brass, and percussion (1997)