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==