Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi, who was born in 1959, completed his piano studies at the Niccolò Pagani Conservatory in his native Genoa and with Aldo Ciccolini in Paris; he also studied conducting with Milan Horvat in Graz. At the Graz Opera he was given his first professional engagement as accompanist and conductor and developed a wide-ranging repertoire in both Italian and German opera. Starting in 1987 he made his debuts, in rapid succession, at Berlin, Munich, and Vienna State Opera, where he has since conducted numerous premieres and revivals. Between 1995 and 2000, Fabio Luisi was principal conductor of Austria’s Tonkünstler Orchestra, and between 1997 and 2002 he had the same position with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; between 1999 and 2007 he was at the helm of the MDR Symphony Orchestra. Since 2005 Luisi  has served as principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony, while in 2007 he began his tenure as general music director of Dresden State Opera and principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. Along with his permanent positions, Fabio Luisi is a sought-after guest conductor at the most eminent podiums in the musical world: above all at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where has had a close relationship in recent years, but also at the Paris Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and San Francisco Opera. In 2002 he made his Salzburg Festival debut conducting Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss. He has performed concerts with the New York Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Concergebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Oslo Philharmonic. Fabio Luisi has received the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, and in 2006 he was named a Cavaliere Ufficiale of the Italian Republic.

Has made one prior appearance with the LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF), on August 17, 2000, with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in works by Strauss, Poulenc, and Saint-Saëns for organ and orchestra.