Fabio Luisi

Grammy Award-winning Italian conductor Fabio Luisi is set to embark on his seventh season as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, his tenth as Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DNSO), and his fifth as Principal Conductor of Tokyo’s NHK Orchestra. Also serving as Music Director of Puglia’s Festival della Valle d’Itria and Emeritus Conductor of Turin’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Luisi has previously held key positions at orchestras and opera houses including the Dresden Staatskapelle, Vienna Symphony, Zurich Opera, and Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Luisi’s 2026–27 programming reflects the breadth and scope of his musicianship. Following the success of their complete Wagner Ring cycle for Delos, the winner of Italy’s prestigious 2026 Premio Abbiati Prize, his upcoming Dallas Symphony highlights include Bach’s St. John Passion, Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, Mozart’s Don Giovanni in concert, and the world premiere of a new triple concerto by Golfam Khayam. Besides giving the same work’s European premiere, he and the DNSO undertake Verdi’s Requiem and Mahler symphonies, while his NHK Symphony season features Puccini’s Tosca in concert, Schumann’s Fourth Symphony, and performances of Mahler’s “Resurrection” to celebrate the orchestra’s centennial. In high demand as a guest conductor, after leading the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, Luisi returns to the San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Milan’s La Scala, where he helms a production of Bellini’s I puritani.

The conductor’s previous appointments include General Music Director of the Zurich Opera and Philharmonia Zurich; Principal Conductor of New York’s Metropolitan Opera; Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony; General Music Director of Dresden’s Staatskapelle and Sächsische Staatsoper; Artistic Director of the Leipzig Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk; Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Chief Conductor of Vienna’s Tonkünstler-Orchester; and Artistic Director of the Graz Symphony. He makes frequent guest appearances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, China NCPA Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, La Scala Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Saito Kinen Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Vienna Philharmonic, as well as leading productions at the Bavarian State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Bregenz Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dutch National Opera, La Scala, Salzburg Festival, and Vienna State Opera.

Luisi has amassed a sizeable and distinguished discography. Recorded with the DNSO for Deutsche Grammophon, his complete Nielsen symphonic cycle was recognized with both Limelight and Abbiati Awards for Best Orchestral Recording of 2023. His account of the composer’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies was named 2023 Recording of the Year by Gramophone, which featured all three volumes in its list of the top 20 Nielsen recordings of all time. Luisi and the DNSO have subsequently released a complementary recording of Nielsen’s concertos, a Scriabin collection, and a recording of Verklärte Nacht to launch their forthcoming complete Schoenberg orchestral set.

The conductor previously received a Grammy Award for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, when Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD release of the full cycle, recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, was named Best Opera Recording of 2012. His output also includes operas by Salieri, Verdi, and Bellini; orchestral works by Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Rachmaninov, and Bruckner with the Philharmonia Zurich; symphonies by Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Respighi, Honegger, and Austria’s Franz Schmidt; and award-winning recordings for Sony Classical with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

A native of Genoa, Fabio Luisi studied at the city’s Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini and the University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria. His honors include the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, Italy’s Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana and Commendatore della Stella d’Italia, Genoa’s Grifo d’Oro, Denmark’s Knight’s Cross, and an honorary doctorate from New York’s St. Bonaventure University. Off the podium, he is an accomplished composer and maker of perfumes, which he produces for his own company: flparfums.com.