Profile

Get to Know Me!

1. How did you choose your instrument? Or did it choose you? How did you get your first instrument? Your first professional instrument? Your current instrument(s)? And do you come from a musical family?

I grew up in a musical family- my father was an orchestra conductor and my mother was a flutist. They were both performers, and educators at the college level. They started us 3 kids on stringed instruments when we were quite young. My older sister played the violin (and still plays- with the Cincinnati Symphony), my younger brother played the cello, and as the middle child, I ended up with the middle instrument- the Viola. At the time I didn’t really care which instrument I played, but as I got older I realized that the viola was perfectly suited to me. I LOVE being in the middle- violists get great harmonies, exciting rhythms, bridge the gap between high and low, and sometimes we even get the melody!!

My first instrument was a violin with viola strings (since I was quite small). I can’t remember when I got my first full-size viola, but I do remember getting my first viola bow. (Probably because I accidentally smashed it in the car door on our way home from the Violin Shop!) When I graduated from high school my parents gave me the gift of a viola made specifically for me from a reputable viola maker in Philadelphia. That was very exciting!

10 years after that I rather accidentally found the viola that I’ve now played on for 38 years: I was viola shopping and, though I was interested in my current instrument, there was just something missing in the sound and I didn't feel comfortable investing in an instrument I didn’t LOVE. So I went to a local violin shop to get help with packing up the viola to send it back to its owner. While I was waiting to be helped, the shop suggested that I just practice for a while since the wait time was going to be considerable. I said I hadn’t brought a bow along, so they pulled one off of the wall and showed me to a practice room. The moment I put the bow on the strings, I heard that SOUND that I’d been missing! My own bow was just a bad fit for this viola, and wasn't able to show me the instrument’s potential. I was in LOVE!!! So I thanked the shop owner, left the shop, put a check in the mail, and very happily play this viola until this day!

2. What has surprised you most about your career in music? How have your musical aspirations changed over time?

In college I discovered that my first love is Chamber Music. I remember lying on my dormitory bed listening to a recording of the Juilliard Quartet playing Debussy and Ravel String Quartets, and thinking that playing in a quartet would be the most amazing, fulfilling, exciting thing I could ever do as a violist. My big surprise is that about 10 years later, that’s exactly the career I had. For 13 years I played in a string quartet (based in New Yourk City) that traveled the world playing competitions and performances, made recordings, had teaching residencies….. It was a dream come true! I would not give up those years and experiences for the world. But, though this work was every bit as fulfilling, challenging, and engaging as I thought it would be, it was also the ONLY thing in my life. We were on the road most of the time, and it was very hard to build relationships and establish a feeling of “home.” So I chose to leave my quartet. That’s when I came out to CA, started teaching at Sacramento State, and got a job in the wonderful San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

Professional Bio

Anna Kruger is Associate Principal Viola of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Principal Viola of the Grammy-nominated New Century Chamber Orchestra. She is also a frequent substitute with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

As founding violist of the Lark Quartet from 1985 through 1998, she toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada, and Russia. Among many competition prizes awarded the Lark were the Gold Medal in the 1991 Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition and the 1990 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. The quartet also received top prizes in the London, Melbourne (Australia), Paolo Borciani (Italy), Karl Klingler (Germany), and Banff (Canada) International String Quartet Competitions. In 1998, the Quartet’s commission and premiere of String Quartet No. 2 by Aaron Jay Kernis won the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Teaching residencies with the Lark included Dartmouth College, Florida State University, Florida Atlantic University, San Diego State University, Ohio University, and the Juilliard School as assistants to the Juilliard Quartet. Ms. Kruger earned her Bachelor of Music with High Distinction from Indiana University, and completed her master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music.

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Get to Know Me!

Professional Bio