Fabio Luisi is an Italian conductor, born in Genoa, 1959. Luisi started learning piano at the age of four and graduated from Conservatorio Nicolò Paganini in 1978. Luisi then continued his piano studies with Aldo Ciccolini and Antonio Bacchelli.

 

Fabio Luisi started his interest in conducting when he worked at the Graz Opera as an accompanist. He then studied conducting with Milan Horvat. His first debut as a conductor was in 1984 in Italy, and finally, he was appointed the Artistic Director of the Graz Symphony Orchestra (1990-1995). In 1995 (up to 2000), Luisi served as the Chief Conductor of the Tonkünstler-Orchester in Vienna. Luisi also held a position as Artistic Directors of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig (1999-2007), l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romandem (1997-2002), Staatskapelle Dresden, and Sächsischen Staatsoper (2007–10).

 

From 2005 up to 2013, Fabio Luisi served as the Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony. In 2012, Luisi was also placed as the Generalmusikdirektor of the Philharmonia Zurich. In 2014, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra appointed Luisi as its future Chief Conductor in the upcoming 2017-2020.

 

Fabio Luisi’s conducting debut in the United States started with the Metropolitan Opera in March 2005, performing Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlos. In 2010, Fabio Luisi was appointed as the Principal Guest Conductor  and second-to-be-named conductor after Valery Gergiev. In September 2011, Luisi became the Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera.

 

Highly committed to the educational activity, he has been artistic director of Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (2008-2012).