It would be wonderful to attend the performance twice and the second time around only look with one’s ears. The music under the Argentine conductor Alejo Pérez [...] was performed with intensity of the highest order. Jürgen Kesting, Frankfurter Allgemeine 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.
Since the beginning of the 2019/20 season he has been forming the sonic identity of the Flemish Opera as its new Music Director – a theatre which has received much international recognition in recent years. Since his debut there in 2018 he made strong appearances in new productions of Pelléas et Mélisande (directed by Abramovich, Cherkaoui), Lohengrin (David Alden), Don Carlos (Johan Simons), and Schreker’s Schmied von Gent (Ersan Mondtag). In 2021 he will conduct concert performances of Ariadne auf Naxos, Così fan tutte (Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker), and a series of concerts at the Flemish Opera.
In recent years, the conductor has shown his worth at the Salzburg Festival (including a performance of Gounod’s Faust with the Vienna Philharmonic), at the Teatro Colón (Parsifal, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos), at the Semperoper Dresden (Carmen), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (Eugene Onegin), Tokyo Nikikai Opera (Der Freischütz), as well as at the rostrum of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
Alejo Pérez has been a guest with numerous renowned orchestras, among them the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
The polyglot Argentinian studied both composition and conducting in addition to piano in his native Buenos Aires, and later in Karslruhe with Peter Eötvös. Formative periods at the start of his conducting career included assisting Peter Eötvös, Michael Gielen, as well as Christoph von Dohnányi at the NDR Symphony Orchestra, which he regularly conducted.
Between 2009 and 2012 Alejo Pérez was Music Director of the venerable Teatro Argentino de La Plata, to which he brought a new lease of life. He was praised by critics and audiences alike for performances of works including Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 Nabucco, La Damnation de Faust, Tristan und Isolde, and Rheingold.
Alejo Pérez was one of the main conductors at the Teatro Real Madrid from 2010 in the era of Gerard Mortier, closely working with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid for concerts with Plácido Domingo, Eva-Maria Westbroek, 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 continues to enjoy longstanding working relationships with the Opéra de Lyon (Pelléas et Mélisande, The Stigmatized, GerMANIA, From the House of the Dead), and the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (La Cenerentola, The Nose, Lulu, The Fiery Angel).
In addition, numerous engagements have taken him to notable international opera houses such as the Opéra de Bastille Paris, the Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Leipzig Operas, Norwegian National Opera, Teatr Wielki Warsaw, and La Monnaie de Munt in Brussels.
Season 2020/21
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