He worked as a tennis coach and a director’s assistant until he and his family emigrated to Austria, where his mother was residing.

After completing his music studies, he was an operatic baritone and concert singer with the Stadttheater Klagenfurt.

In 1966, he began to work at the Starka Concert Agency,[2] which he eventually took over and whose prestige he increased.

In 1988, Eberhard Waechter named Holender as Secretary-General of the Vienna State Opera, effective as of 1991.

After Waechter’s death in February 1992, Holender became director of the Vienna State Opera on 1 April 1992.