Jüri Alperten

September 16, 1957 Tallinn - August 26, 2020, Tallinn
Member of the Estonian Theatre Union since 1987

Conductor Jüri Alperten was in demand for his skills in directing both operas and symphony orchestras. He made his Estonian National Symphony Orchestra debut in 1979 and his opera debut at the Estonian National Opera with the Soviet premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Attila in 1982. 

Jüri Alperten graduated from the Tallinn Music High School (1975) and the Tallinn State Conservatory (1979) in piano under the guidance of Bruno Lukk, having also studied conducting with Roman Matsov. In 1985, Alperten graduated from the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory on opera and orchestral conducting with Ilja Mussin. He has won the 3rd prize at the conducting competition in Novosibirsk, Russia (1988).

Since 1985 till his death, Jüri Alperten was a conductor of the Estonian National Opera (2002–2004 principal conductor). His repertoire comprises more than 50 music theatre productions including operas, ballets, operettas and musicals. He has been the music director of Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s operas, Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Richard Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, Richard Strauss’s Salome, Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz, Manuel de Falla’s La vida breve; Imre Kálmán’s Countess Maritza, Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Mitch Leigh’s Man of La Mancha, Jerry Bock’s Fiddler on the Roof; Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin, Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé, Georges Bizet/Rodion Shchedrin Carmen Suite, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker, Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Rodion Shchedrin’s Anna Karenina, Tiit Härm’s The Lady of the Camellias, Tauno Aints’s Catherine I, Ronald Hynd’s Rosalinde, Adolphe Adam’s Giselle and many others. Estonian National Opera’s guest performances have taken him to the Latvian National Opera, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, different Finnish cities and Malmö, Sweden. He has been a guest conductor at the Latvian National Opera, the Värmland Music Theatre (Sweden), the Göteborg Opera in Sweden etc.

In addition to his career as an opera conductor, Jüri Alperten was also a valued conductor of the symphony orchestra. A little more than 30 years (1998–2019) he stood as the chief conductor in front of the Pärnu City Orchestra. During these years the orchestra has become one of the top orchestras in Estonia. In 1994–2000, he also served as the chief conductor of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestras of the USSR (Misk, Moldova, Novosibirsk etc), the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Szombathely Philharmonic Orchestra, several Finnish orchestras, the Pilsen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra etc. He has given guest performances in Russia, Hungary, Finland, Latvia, Sweden etc. Besides being the conductor, he has also appeared as a piano soloist (Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos).

Almost 30 years (1993–2020) Jüri Alperten taught orchestral conducting at the Estonian Academy of Music. His students include Jüri-Ruut Kangur, Lauri Sirp, Risto Joost, Toomas Vavilov, Priit Aimla, Lehari Kaustel, Ingrid Roose, Veronika Portsmuth, Mikk Üleoja, Loit Lepalaan, Bert Langeler, Valle-Rasmus Roots.

Jüri Alperten has awarded the Annual Prize of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for Music (1997, 2002), the Annual Prize of the Estonian Theatre Union in the music theatre production category (2001), the Harjumaa Theatre Prize (2012), the Honorable mention by City Government of Pärnu and also Pärnu City’s Johann Voldemar Jannsen Prize for developing the music life of Estonia since 1994 (2014), the Interpretation Prize of Estonian Music Council (2014) and posthumously the Thanksgiving Award of the Estonian Cultural Endowment for Music for his long-term and outstanding contribution to Estonian music life (2020).

© EMIC 2014
(updated in August 2020)

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