Alexander Briger

(Andrew) Alexander Briger AO

Biography Alexander Briger was born in Sydney and attended the Sydney Grammar School, where his uncle Alastair Mackerras was the headmaster. He had his first violin lessons there. He was inspired to become a conductor at age 12, when he saw another uncle, Sir Charles Mackerras, conduct the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in Mahler's Fourth Symphony. In 1991 he went to the Richard Strauss Conservatorium in Munich to undertake a post-graduate degree in conducting. He won first prize at the International Competition for Conductors in the Czech Republic in 1993. He won the right to study under Pierre Boulez at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2000. He has since worked extensively with Boulez and with Sir Charles Mackerras. Boulez introduced Briger to Sir Simon Rattle, who invited him to conduct the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

In 2002 he filled in for the scheduled conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, who was taken ill. He also appeared at the BBC Proms and the Berlin Festival with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group that year. He has since recorded the work on CD.

His overseas operatic work includes The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Rigoletto and The Makropulos Case (English National Opera), The Cunning Little Vixen (Aix-en-Provence Festival), The Magic Flute (Glyndebourne Festival), From the House of the Dead (Canadian Opera Company), The Tales of Hoffmann (Royal Danish Opera), The Bartered Bride (Royal Swedish Opera), The Queen of Spades (Komische Oper Berlin), Nixon in China and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute (Toulon Opera) and the Bartók ballets The Miraculous Mandarin and The Wooden Prince (Opéra national du Rhin).

Premieres Alexander Briger's premieres include: Arvo Pärt's Lamentate (London Sinfonietta/Hélène Grimaud) works by Mark-Anthony Turnage

Personal life Briger's wife, Caroline Meng, is a French mezzo-soprano, and they have one daughter, Charlotte. He has three daughters from a previous marriage, Claudia, Sofia and Scarlett.