Alexander Briger

Conductor

• Biography
• Reviews
• Repertoire
• Photos

• • Download full biography

  Alexander Briger was born in Australia and studied in Sydney and later in Munich, winning various awards, including first prize in the International Workshop/Competition for Conductors in the Czech Republic. He worked closely with Sir Charles Mackerras on many of his projects and with Pierre Boulez in Aix-en-Provence with the Ensemble InterContemporain.

  Orchestras he has conducted include the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields Northern Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, Hanover Band, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Swedish Radio, Orchestre du Capitole (Toulouse), Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, Frankfurt Radio, Japanese Virtuoso Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Sudwestrundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Stuttgart, Mozarteum Orchestra, Salzburg and Salzburg Camerata, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Gothenburg Symphony.

  Operas have included Jenufa, The Cunning Little Vixen, Madame Butterfly, Cosi fan tutte, Le Nozze di Figaro and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera Australia, The Cunning Little Vixen for the Aix Festival, The Rape of Lucretia for the Royal Opera (Linbury Studio), The Bartered Bride for the Stockholm Opera, Die Zauberflöte for Glyndebourne, Rigoletto and The Makropoulos Case for English National Opera, The Tales of Hoffmann in Copenhagen and From the House of the Dead for Canadian Opera.

  In August 2011, Alexander Briger formed the Australian World Orchestra in Sydney, bringing together Australia’s most successful classical musicians from around the world. The inaugural programme in August 2011 was in memory of Sir Charles Mackerras and consisted of four concerts.

  Alexander Briger is represented worldwide excluding Australasia by Robert Slotover at Rayfield Allied.
  This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

• • Download press quotes

  • Nixon in China
    Theatre du Chatelet, Paris (April 2012)

    The Orchestra de Chambre de Paris, conducted by Alexander Briger, and the excellent Châtelet chorus keep a tight grip on every treacherously syncopated bar.

    Francis Carlin, Financial Times

    La réussite du spectacle doit également énormément à la formidable direction d’Alexander Briger à la tête d’un très bon Orchestre de Chambre de Paris...La direction du chef australien est extrêmement dynamique, faisant ressortir les arêtes de cette musique (bien plus complexe qu’il n’y paraît), les rythmes jazzy tout comme les références à la musique romantique quand il ne s’agit pas purement de citations (par exemple de la Symphonie Alpestre de Strauss).

    Pierre-Emmanuel Lephay, ForumOpera.com

    Musicalmente, la produzione è uno splendore. L'Orchestre de Chambre de Paris raffinatissima, sotto la bacchetta sicura ed intelligente di Alexander Briger, ha la meglio su una partitura piena di insidie techniche e ritmiche

    Alessandro di Profio, Il Giornale della Musica

    Excellente participation du Chœur du Châtelet et de l'Orchestre de chambre de Paris (nouveau nom de l'Ensemble orchestral), sous la direction d'Alexander Briger, qui mise toutefois plus sur les climats et couleurs que sur le mordant et la netteté.

    Christian Merlin, Le Figaro

  • Carmen, State Opera of South Australia
    Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (November 2011)

    Conductor Alexander Briger has done a mighty job with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

    Matt Byrne, Adelaide Now

    For this State Opera of South Australia performance of Carmen, Alexander Briger and the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra made sparks fly right from the prelude.” Opera Magazine.

    Opera Magazine

    The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra were like greyhounds flying out of the gate as conductor Alexander Briger, led them into the opening of the overture at a cracking pace. The orchestra's playing is impeccable.

    Barry Lenny, Glam Adelaide

    The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra contributed solidly to the musical ambience under Alexander Briger.

    Sandra Bowdler, Opera Britannia

  • Alexander Briger brings together the Australian World Orchestra
    (September 2011)

    PLEASE CLICK HERE

  • Recording: Walton Cello Concerto / Shostakovich 1st Cello Concerto [5 stars]
    (March 2011)

    Jamie Walton is a marvellous young cellist, and this new disc of Walton (no relation) and Shostakovitch is out of the top drawer. Walton's Cello Concerto, a bittersweet work from 1956 first performed by Gregor Platigorsky, requires a special type of player, one able to capture the magic without excess and an effortless technique. Jamie Walton is such a player, and right from his first entry - a beautifully taut, gutty moment - he carries us with him to the end. Alexander Briger, who has collaborated with him on earlier discs, conducts with superb understanding. The same applies to the Shostakovitch. Every cellist must compete with the memory of Rostropovitch in this work, but Walton is his own man in a performance I will return to often.

    The Dominion Post

  • Alexander Briger conducts the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra
    (March 2011)

    This all-Mozart program contains two popular works, music as well known as anything else by the composer, and two underplayed, small-scale gems... A definite success was conductor Alexander Briger who showed a good-humoured energy and worked manfully to support both the night's soloists... In fact, the symphony performance achieved the unexpected goal of shedding new light where you might have thought nothing new was left to be found. The woodwind choir invested the two middle movements with hefty eloquence, particularly a beguiling weight of expressiveness in the Minuet-and-Trio's antiphonal passages, with William Hennessy's hard-working strings dotted with reinforcements from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

    The Saturday Age

  • Sir Charles Mackerras Memorial Concert, Royal Festival Hall
    (November 2010)

    I once interviewed Mackerras in Prague, where he was recording a Janácek opera. He said Janácek demanded rugged playing; Czech orchestras had it in their blood, non-Czech orchestras had to learn it. With Mackerras’s nephew Alexander Briger conducting, the Philharmonia showed that it has the knack. The Cunning Little Vixen suite (Mackerras’s own arrangement) had warmth and tensile strength, while the opera’s closing scene was sung (in English: Janácek and Mackerras would have liked that) with real authority by Thomas Allen. This was the music Mackerras wanted played at his funeral; it made a touching end to a heartfelt tribute.

    Evening Standard

  • Baz Luhrmann’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, Opera Australia
    (February / March 2010)

    Among the beauties of Shakespeare's play is its deft evocation of three very different worlds within a single spot, and Britten's score manages a similar feat, assigning each world its own distinctive soundscape. Conductor Alexander Briger does a fine job of both delineating and interlacing these varied textures, drawing out coherent, atmospheric playing. At times the orchestra's placement behind the action upsets the balance, but it is nevertheless a welcome change to see them freed from their atrocious pit and on such resplendent display.

    The Opera Critic

    A brilliant aspect of Catherine Martin and Bill Marron's gorgeously coloured design is the three-layered pagoda with the uniformed orchestra performing on the middle level like a band, while the other layers take on magic functions. It is a joy to hear the clarity of sound of the Opera and Ballet orchestra and the conductor, Alexander Briger, teases out its imaginative textures with care and refinement.

    Sydney Morning Herald

    ...a superb production which is familiar but fresh. The all important bandstand conducted by flamboyant Alexander Briger and the creative genius of designer Catherin Martin and Bill Marron, only add to the beautiful wonderland...Lose yourself in this wondrous world.

    sydney.citysearch.com.au

    There were plenty of musical rewards to be savoured under the firm and helpful guiding hand of conductor Alexander Briger, who brought out a spellbinding musical quality to Britten's world of dark enchantment.

    North Shore Times

    Alexander Briger directed a gauzy, shimmering account of this magical score.

    Opera Magazine

• Alexander Briger’s Opera Repertoire

  BEETHOVEN

  • Fidelio

  BRITTEN

  • The Rape of Lucretia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes, Albert Herring, Billy Budd

  DE FALLA

  • Master Peter’s Puppet Show

  HOLT

  • Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?

  JANACEK

  • The Cunning Little Vixen, Makropluos Case, From the House of the Dead, Jenufa, Katya Kabanova

  KHATCHATURIAN

  • Spartacus

  MOZART

  • Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Magic Flute, Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, Don Giovanni

  NATHAN

  • Don John of Austria

  OFFENBACH

  • Tales of Hoffmann

  PUCCINI

  • La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Tosca

  RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

  • Tsar Sultan, Flight of the Bumblebee

  ROSSINI

  • The Barber of Seville

  SIBELIUS

  • Pelleas and Melisande

  SMETANA

  • The Bartered Bride

  SULLIVAN/MACKERRAS

  • Sullivan/Mackerras - Pineapple Poll Suite

  TCHAIKOVSKY

  • Pique Dame, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty

  VERDI

  • Rigoletto, Nabucco

  Alexander Briger’s Ballet Repertoire

  BARTOK

  • The Miraculous Mandarin
  • The Wooden Prince

  Alexander Briger’s Concert Repertoire

  ADAMS

  • The Dharma at Big Sur (Electric Violin Concerto)

  ADÉS

  • Chamber Symphony

  ANDERSON

  • Khorovod

  BACH

  • Magnificat
  • Brandenburg Concertos
  • Orchestral Suites
  • Violin Concertos
  • various Harpsichord Concertos

  BARBER

  • Adagio for Strings

  BARRY

  • Wiener Blut

  BEETHOVEN

  • Symphonies No.1-8
  • Egmont Overture
  • Leonore No. 3 Overture
  • Coriolan Overture
  • Fidelio Overture
  • Piano concertos
  • Violin Concerto
  • Romances for Violin

  BERIO

  • Folk songs

  BERLIOZ

  • Roman Carnival(scenes from Romeo and Juliette and Damnation of Faust)

  BERNSTEIN

  • "On the Town" Overture

  BIRTWISTLE

  • Secret Theatre
  • Silbury Air

  BORODIN

  • Polovtsian Dances

  BOULEZ

  • Eclat/Multiples

  BRAHMS

  • Symphonies No.1,2,4
  • Tragic Overture
  • Academic Festival Overture
  • Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto No.1
  • Hungarian Dances

  BRITTEN

  • Cello symphony
  • 4 Sea Interludes
  • Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge
  • Simple Symphony
  • Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
  • Serenade for Tenor
  • Horn and Strings
  • Prelude and Fugue for 18 Strings

  BRUCH

  • Violin Concertos No.1 and 2
  • Kol Nidrei

  CARTER

  • Reflexions

  CASHIAN

  • Scenes from Burgos (premiere)
  • Three Pieces (premiere)

  COPLAND

  • Appalachian Spring
  • Fanfare for the Common Man

  DEBUSSY

  • La Mer
  • Iberia
  • Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune
  • Danses

  DONATONI

  • Hot

  DVORAK

  • Symphonies No.7,8,9
  • Symphonic Variations
  • Cello Concerto
  • Slavonic Dances
  • Slavonic Rhapsodies
  • Romance for Violin
  • Wind Serenade

  ELGAR

  • Enigma Variations
  • Cello Concerto
  • Pomp and Circumstance Marches
  • Serenade for Strings
  • Introduction and Allegro
  • Salut d’amour

  EOTVOS

  • Violin Concerto (“Seven”)

  FRANCAIX

  • Divertissement

  GLINKA

  • Russlan and Ludmila Overture

  GOLIJOV

  • The Last Round

  GRIEG

  • Peer Gynt
  • Holberg Suite

  HANDEL

  • Messiah
  • Water Music
  • Fireworks Music
  • Sarabande
  • Organ Concertos
  • various Concerto Grossos

  HAYDN

  • Symphonies No.45, 59,67,101-104
  • Cello Concertos
  • Violin Concertos
  • Trumpet Concerto

  HENZE

  • Chamber Symphony

  HERVE

  • Ciels

  HOLST

  • The Planets
  • St.Paul’s Suite

  HOLT

  • Canciones

  HUMMEL

  • Trumpet concerto

  IBERT

  • Divertissment

  IRELAND

  • Concertino Pastorale

  JANACEK

  • Taras Bulba, Sinfonietta
  • Concertino

  LAMPSON

  • Symphony No.2

  LIGETI

  • Atmospheres

  LIM

  • Compass (Premiere)

  MACHE

  • Taranis (premiere)

  MAHLER

  • Symphonies No.1,4,10 (Adagio)
  • Adagietto from 5th Symphony

  MANTOVANI

  • 6 Pieces (premiere)

  MENDELSSOHN

  • Symphonies No.3 and 4
  • Violin Concerto
  • Midsummer Night’s Dream
  • Hebrides Overture

  MESSIAEN

  • Le Tombeau Resplendissant

  MIASKOVSKY

  • Cello Concerto

  MOZART

  • Requiem
  • C-minor Mass
  • Symphonies No.1,9,29,31,35-41
  • Overtures
  • Serenata Notturna
  • Haffner Serenade
  • Posthorn Serenade
  • Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
  • Gran Partita
  • Piano Concertos No.20-27
  • Violin Concertos No.1-5
  • Clarinet Concerto
  • Sinfonia Concertante
  • Exultate Jubilate
  • Maurerische Trauermusik

  MUSSORGSKY

  • Pictures at an Exhibition

  NEUWIRTH

  • Clinamen Nodus

  NIELSON

  • Helios Overture, Symphonic Rhapsody, Little Suite

  NONO

  • Como un ola di fuerz

  PART

  • Lament-Tate (Premiere)

  PROKOFIEFF

  • Romeo and Juliet Suite
  • Peter and the Wolf
  • Violin Concerto No.1

  RACHMANINOV

  • Piano Concerto No.2
  • Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini

  RAVEL

  • Mother Goose Suite

  RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

  • Scheherazade

  RODRIGO

  • Concierto de Aranjuez

  ROSSINI

  • La Gazza Ladra Overture
  • An Italian in Algiers Overture
  • La Cenerentola Overture

  RUDERS

  • Abysm

  SAINT-SAENS

  • Symphony No.3
  • Carnival of the Animals
  • Cello Concertos No.1 and 2
  • Violin Concerto No.3
  • Havanaise

  SATIE

  • Gymnopedies

  SCHOELLER

  • The Eyes of the Wind

  SCHOENBERG

  • Piano Concerto

  SCHREIER

  • 3 Fragments for Orchestra (premiere)

  SCHUBERT

  • Symphonies No. 3,4,8,9

  SCHUMANN

  • Symphonies No. 1 and 4, Cello Concerto

  SCIARRINO

  • Infinito Nero

  SCRIABIN

  • Symphony No.3

  SCULTHORPE

  • Earth Cry

  SHOSTAKOVICH

  • Symphony No 5, Cello Concertos No.1 and 2.

  SIBELIUS

  • Symphonies No. 2,3,5
  • Violin Concerto

  SMETANA

  • Vltava
  • Vysehrad

  STENHAMMER

  • Symphony No. 2

  J.STRAUSS

  • Blue Danube, Radetzki March, Fledermaus Overture

  STRAUSS

  • Till Eulenspiegel
  • Don Juan
  • Horn Concerto No.2
  • Burleske
  • Wind Serenade

  STRAVINSKY

  • Firebird Suite
  • Pulcinella Suite
  • Dumbarton Oaks Concerto
  • Circus Polka
  • Danses Concertante

  TCHAIKOVSKY

  • Symphonies No.4,5,6
  • Suite No.3
  • Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
  • 1812 Overture
  • Rococo Variations
  • Violin Concerto
  • Serenade for Strings

  TURNAGE

  • The Torn Fields (premiere)
  • Kai
  • Bass Inventions
  • Dark Crossing
  • Twice Through the Heart

  VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

  • The Wasps, Songs of Travel

  VIVALDI

  • 4 Seasons

  WAGNER

  • Prelude & Liebestod from Tristan
  • Orchestral Excerpts from “The Ring”
  • Meistersinger Overture, Tannhaeuser Overture
  • Flying Dutchman Overture
  • Prelude to Act 3 from Lohengrin
  • Siegfried Idyll

  WALTON

  • Symphony No.1.
  • Belshazzar’s Feast
  • Façade
  • Henry 5th

  WEBER

  • Overture to Freischuetz and Oberon
  • Clarinet Concertos No.1 and 2

  WEIR

  • Consolations of Scholarship

  XENAKIS

  • Piece for 80 Musicians

• Photos

  • 
    Photographer: Melanie Moss

    Download
  • 
    Photographer: James Pozarik

    Download
  • 
    Photographer: Melanie Moss

    Download
  • 
    Photographer: James Pozarik

    Download