Alejo Pérez
The conductor took the singers by the hand through the performance: (…) Peréz created a distinctness from the velvety tone of the Viennese players, characteristic of the French need for clarity. (...) Instead of grand drama, he created an atmosphere where every individual moment was sensuous.
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
As a conductor, Alejo Pérez possesses an inherent stylistic awareness and the ability to bring every detail of the most complex score to life. This has consistently secured him a firm place on the international opera and concert scene. In recent seasons, Alejo Pérez has repeatedly shown his worth at the Salzburg Festival, where he conducted Massenet’s Werther in 2015 and led the Vienna Philharmonic in Gounod’s Faust in 2016, at the Téatro Colón with Parsifal and Der Rosenkavalier, as well as with his debuts at the Semperoper Dresden with Carmen and at the Lyric Opera of Chicago with Eugene Onegin. In the 2017/18 season he will conduct the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg for the first time in the Elbphilharmonie. He will also take the musical direction for no fewer than four new opera productions: Cherubini’s highly dramatic Medea in a new German version at the Stuttgart Opera and Weber’s Freischütz in Tokyo, both directed by Peter Konwitschny; Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Antwerp and Luxembourg in a production by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; and a world premiere of Alexander Raskatow’s GerMania at the Opéra de Lyon based on plays by Heiner Müller. Alejo Pérez has been at the rostrum of numerous renowned orchestras in recent years, among them the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Staatsorchestra Stuttgart, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He has also collaborated with the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Asko Schönberg Ensemble and Klangforum Wien.
The polyglot Argentinian studied both composition and conducting, in addition to piano, in his native Buenos Aires. Formative periods at the start of his career included assisting the composer Peter Eötvös, whose operas Angels in America (Théâtre du Châtelet Paris) and Lady Sarashina (Opéra de Lyon, Opéra Comique Paris) were premiered under Pérez’ direction, as well as Christoph von Dohnanyi at the NDR Symphony Orchestra, which he regularly conducted between 2005 and 2007. Between 2009 and 2012 Alejo Pérez was musical director of the venerable Teatro Argentino de La Plata, the most distinguished Argentinian opera house after the Teatro Colón, injecting new life into it during this time. Praised by critics and audiences alike, he led new productions such as Verdi’s Don Carlos, Berlioz‘s La Damnation de Faust, Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Rheingold. Alejo Pérez was one of the main conductors at the Teatro Real Madrid from 2010 during the era of Gerard Mortier, closely working with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid for concerts with Plácido Domingo, Teresa Berganza and Ian Bostridge, and celebrated performances of Rienzi, Don Giovanni, Death in Venice, Golijov’s Ainadamar and Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico. He also enjoys long and continuous collaborations with Opéra de Lyon, where he has led Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, Schreker’s Stigmatised and Stravinsky’s Nightingale among others, as well as with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (La Cenerentola, The Nose and Lulu). In addition, numerous engagements have taken him to notable international opera houses such as the Opéra de Bastille Paris, the Cologne, Frankfurt and Seite Leipzig Operas, Norwegian National Opera, Teatr Wielki Warsaw, and La Monnaie de Munt in Brussels.