Originally considering a military career, Krins was guided by his parents toward music, leading him to study at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Liège between 1902 and 1908. There he was awarded second prize in 1907 and first prize in 1908 for violin. He balanced work in his father’s shop with performances in La Grande Symphonie in Spa, a very music-orientated city, for the 1908 and 1909 seasons, before securing a position as first violinist at Le Trianon Lyrique in Paris in 1910. His career then took him to London, where he performed at the Ritz Hotel until March 1912. Alongside working in his father’s shop, he performed with La Grande Symphonie in Spa before becoming first violinist at Le Trianon Lyrique in Paris in 1910. He later moved to London, where he played at the Ritz Hotel until March 1912. Although he had never played on ships before, in early April, the Liverpool-based music agency C.W. & F.N. Black secured him a place in the Titanic’s orchestra, and he boarded the ship in Southampton as a second-class passenger on E Deck.