About
Alexander Pereira (born October 11, 1947 in Vienna) is an Austrian cultural manager. From 1991 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Zurich Opera House, and from 2012 to 2014 director of the Salzburg Festival. Since October 2014 he has been in charge of the Milan Scala.
Live and act
Alexander Pereira was born in Vienna, the son of an Austrian diplomat; he is a descendant of Fanny von Arnstein. Its name goes back to Portuguese ancestors, who settled in Vienna in 1720. Since he wanted to "learn a right job" at the request of parents, he was trained in marketing and sales and went as a tourism manager to London. He then worked for Olivetti for almost twelve years: he sold writing and calculating machines in Frankfurt and was branch manager in Berlin.
Incidentally, he completed a vocal studies. In 1979 he was commissioned by Hermann Josef Abs, the former head of the Deutsche Bank, to organize the Frankfurt Bach Concerts together with Katharina von Bismarck, which had been founded by Deutsche Bank. From 1979 to 1983 he was a member of the board of the Frankfurt Bach concerts.
In 1984 he was appointed Secretary General of the Konzerthausgesellschaft in Vienna. He succeeded there to modernize the concert scene, to win new and young audiences and to engage Christoph Lieben-Seutter as a personal assistant for this activity. Every two years he organizes the International Music Festival of the Wiener Festwochen.
Intendant of the Zurich Opera House
In 1989 he was the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival in conversation, but instead he came to the Zurich Opera House, where he became Intendant on July 1, 1991. In a short time, he succeeded in bringing numerous internationally acclaimed productions to the stage, reducing millions of dollars in debt through successful marketing and acquiring sponsors and earning a profit.
As artistic director, Pereira emphasized the development of an ensemble, the promotion of young performers, open forms of events and the involvement of the audience as well as the collaboration with well-known artists. At the center of Pereira's program was the maintenance of the opera repertoire from Mozart to Verdi. In addition, he also supported world premieres of contemporary works.
In 1996, Pereira became managing director of the artistic commission of the Zürcher Festspiele, which he had initiated decisively and which took place for the first time in the summer of 1997. His contract at the opera house ran until summer 2012, he ended his Zurich era on July 8, 2012 with Verdi's Falstaff. [4] His successor as artistic director of the Zurich Opera House is Andreas Homoki, who was director of the Komische Oper Berlin at the time of the appointment.
Intendance of the Salzburg Festival
On July 20, 2012 Alexander Pereira took over the directorship of the Salzburg Festival and thus the responsibility of the opera occupations of the Salzburg Festival 2012 to 2014. He extended the festival by an Ouverture spiritual, let all opera productions only one summer long play and could already in the first year of his Intendanz achieve a record attendance. Together with the singer Cecilia Bartoli, he developed a new concept for the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, which was well received by the audience and critics. In 2012, Nikolaus Harnoncourt returned to the Festival and with Zimmermann's bulky opera Die Soldaten managed an exemplary staging whose musical component was highly praised. In 2013, Pereira brought around a thousand Venezuelan youth, who play and sing in the orchestras and choirs of El Sistema, to Salzburg. The concert series was acclaimed by critics and audiences, there was standing ovation. The tradition of the Salzburg Festival Ball and the awarding of commissioned works was also revived. Every summer, Pereira presented an opera by a contemporary, and in 2014 this was - successfully - the premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie's Charlotte Salomon. In 2013, together with acting director Sven-Eric Bechtolf, he presented a successful fundamental new version of Everyman, developed by the British-American director duo Julian Crouch and Brian Mertes. The years 2013 and 2014 also brought visitor records.
However, Pereira's expansion course was not supported by the (politically-charged) Kuratorium der Festspiele, and only partially by the festival's president. It was therefore already in 2012 to fierce controversy - especially with the Salzburg Mayor Heinz damage, which decidedly excluded an extension of the contract and thus motivated Pereira to negotiate with the Milan Scala. On June 11, 2013, Pereira and the Board of Trustees agreed on an early termination of the contract after the end of the 2014 Salzburg Festival, Bechtolf took over interim for two seasons.
Intendant of the Milan Scala
In April 2005, Pereira turned down an offer from the Milan Scala. This decision was based, on the one hand, on its close ties with Zurich and, on the other hand, on the decision of the Governing Council of the Canton of Zurich to refrain from announcing a cut in the subsidy of two million francs. After lengthy negotiations, however, he was appointed in early June 2013 to the director's post in Milan. He took office at the beginning of the 2014/15 season. Even before his arrival, there was a violent controversy over takeovers of successful productions of the Salzburg Festival and a voluntary reduction of his contract to only one season. After Peter Stein's successful Aida production in February 2015, however, the Board of Trustees unanimously ordered him to sign the contract until 2019.
Miscellaneous
Alexander Pereira is internationally regarded as a senior cultural director. Current projects are the promotion of young artists and the training of future directors. To this end, Pereira initiated a master program for cultural managers, which is offered by the University of Zurich as a postgraduate degree (Executive Master of Arts Administration). The three-year master program provides the necessary knowledge for the overall management of cultural businesses.
Alexander Pereira is a successful owner and breeder of racehorses and amateur cook. He is on the Advisory Board of the Liechtenstein Foundation Ars Rhenia, which promotes culture and the arts. In India, he manages the foundation "Saint Francis Home" for girls with a disability.
In 2015, Pereira was awarded the Pro Arte Europe Prize of the Herbert Batliner Europe Institute.
Private
Pereira is in a relationship with the 39 years younger Daniela Weisser de Sousa, who was previously married to the photographer Otto R. Weisser. Pereira is still married to Estelle, whom he married at the age of 23. With her he has a son and a daughter.