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.
In recent years, the conductor has appeared to great acclaim 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, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Highlights of the 2021/22 season include his debuts at the Grand Théâtre de Genève for a new production of Prokofievs War and Peace (Calixto Bieito), and at the Wiener Staatsoper (Carmen). Following his debut at the Nikikai Opera in 2018 (Der Freischütz) he will also return to Tokyo for a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten (Peter Konwitschny).
In his role as music director, Alejo Pérez has been forming the sonic identity of the Flemish Opera since September 2019 - a theatre which has received much international recognition in recent years. There, 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 2021/22 he will conduct performances of Ariadne auf Naxos, Sciarrino’s La nuova Euridice secondo Rilke, Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, and in a new version of C(h)oeurs by Alain Platel among others.
Alejo Pérez has been a guest with numerous internationally renowned orchestras, such as Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Ensemble Intercontemporain. 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, engagements have taken him to 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.
Between 2009 and 2012 Alejo Pérez served as music director of the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, to which he brought a new lease of life with internationally acclaimed performances. From 2010, he was one of the main conductors at the Teatro Real Madrid 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 productions of Rienzi, Don Giovanni, Death in Venice, Golijov’s Ainadamar, and Rihm’s Die Eroberung von Mexico.
The polyglot Argentinian studied both composition and conducting in addition to piano in his native Buenos Aires, and later in Karlsruhe 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.
In 2019, Alejo Pérez was awarded the Konex Platinum Award for his artistic achievements – one of the highest honours in his home country Argentina.
2021/22 season
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