Markus Kraler was born in Innsbruck in 1974 and studied double bass at the Tyrolean State Conservatory in his home city. Numerous engagements as an orchestral and chamber musician in various formations followed, covering genres from contemporary to folk music. He was a member of groups including the Österreichische Salonisten and the Florianer Tanzlgeiga and performed regularly with the Tyrolean chamber orchestra InnStrumenti and Ensemble Sonare Linz.
Markus Kraler is co-founder of Musicbanda Franui and since 1993 has performed with this ten-part ensemble as double bassist and composer. The group’s work focuses on compositions by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Gustav Mahler. Performances, composition commissions, theatre and music theatre productions and guest appearances have taken him to leading opera houses and theatres, renowned concert halls and European festivals, including the Berlin State Opera, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Cologne Philharmonie, the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Theater in der Josefstadt and the Vienna Burgtheater, and to the Ruhrtriennale, the Munich Opera Festival and the Salzburg Festival.
He has also written and arranged music for film and stage, including the pasticcio opera Anaesthesia — Händel with care and the project Wo du nicht bist for the theatre company Nico and the Navigators. Other composition commissions have taken him to venues and festivals including the Tyrolean State Theatre, the Tyrolean Festival Erl, the Bregenz Festival and the Ruhrtriennale.
