Fabio Luisi
Fabio Luisi has conducted many of Europe's most prestigious orchestras as well as New York's Metropolitan Opera for six years. As of the early 2020s, he was principal conductor of orchestras in Dallas, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.
Luisi was born in Genoa, Italy, on January 17, 1959. His first instrument was the piano, and he earned a diploma on that instrument at the Paganini Conservatory in his native city, studying with Memi Schiavina. Moving to Paris, he took further lessons from Aldo Ciccolini and Antonio Bacchelli. Finding work as a piano accompanist employed by singer Leyla Gencer, he began to become interested in conducting. He moved to Graz, Austria, and took conducting lessons with Milan Horvat. Luisi worked at the Graz Opera as an accompanist and was soon able to move into conducting slots. He made his formal debut at the Graz Opera in 1984 and was soon hired for guest conducting appearances around Europe. In 1990, he founded the Graz Symphony Orchestra, with himself as music director, and he remained in that position until 1995.
In 1992, Luisi made his recording debut, leading a production of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda on the Berlin Classics label with the Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin. From 1995 to 2000, he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, and from 1996 to 1999, he was also one of three conductors of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra; he became sole chief conductor in 1999.
Luisi helmed several more opera recordings in the 1990s. His orchestral recording career began after he was appointed principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 1997, remaining there until 2002; in 2000, he released an album of symphonies by Honegger on the RSR label. He continued to conduct the MDR Orchestra after stepping down and recorded works by Mahler and Franz Schmidt with that group. In 2004, Luisi was named music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Semperoper in Dresden; he assumed the posts in 2007 but stepped down in 2010 when the management booked the Staatskapelle Dresden for a German television appearance with Christian Thielemann as conductor without asking Luisi. Instead, he devoted his energies to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, where he became chief conductor in 2005, and to increasingly frequent appearances in the U.S., where he made his debut appearance at the Metropolitan Opera that year. In 2010, he became principal guest conductor, ascending to principal conductor the following year due to the illness of James Levine. He was named principal conductor the following year, remaining in the post until 2017.
Meanwhile, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra named Luisi principal conductor in 2013; his contract there has been extended through 2026. After several guest appearances, he was named music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2020; in Dallas, his contract has been extended through 2029. Luisi also became the conductor of Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2022. He has continued to record with many of the orchestras with which he has been associated. By the early 2020s, his recording catalog comprised more than 60 items, including a 2022 album with the Danish National Symphony featuring the Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 of Carl Nielsen.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Carl Nielsen: The Symphonies
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 21/04/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, WAB 109
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 13/10/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 6
Wiener Symphoniker, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Wiener Symphoniker on 5/02/2013
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Alzira
Marina Mescheriakova, Ramón Vargas, Paolo Gavanelli, Choeur du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1/01/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
Wiener Symphoniker, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Wiener Symphoniker on 1/10/2012
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 6
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 27/01/2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Opera Highlights (Live)
Neil Shicoff, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Vladimir Chernov, Frédéric Chaslin, Fabio Luisi, Marcello Viotti
Opera - Released by Orfeo on 2/05/2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 9/12/2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nino Rota (Bandes originales de films de Federico Fellini)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Fabio Luisi
Film Soundtracks - Released by RTS Radio Télévision Suisse - Evasion Music on 20/10/2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Van Veldhuizen: mais le corps taché d'ombres
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on 29/04/2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann, Mozart & Chopin: Piano Concertos
Margarita Hohenrieder, Wiener Symphoniker, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Solo Musica on 25/11/2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concertos K. 414 & K. 271 (Live at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova)
Andrea Bacchetti, Fabio Luisi, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice
Classical - Released by Concerto Classics on 22/06/2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zandonai: Francesca da Rimini
Elena Filipova, Fabio Luisi, Wiener Symphoniker
Opera - Released by Edition Bregenzer Festspiele on 15/05/1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo