Fabio Luisi

Fabio Luisi ( born January 17, 1959 in Genoa ) is an Italian conductor. He was artistic director of the Graz Symphony Orchestra (1990-1996) and Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Musicians Lower Austria (1994-2000), the MDR Symphony Orchestra (1996-2007), the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (1997-2002) and the Staatskapelle Dresden (2007-2010), where he also acted as General Music Director (GMD ) of the Semper Opera House. Since 2005, he is faced with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. In the 2012/13 season he became General Music Director of the Zurich Opera House and represents as Principal Conductor of the GMD James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He is regarded as one of the leading interpreters of Italian opera and the late romantic repertoire and has won several awards for his recordings with international recording prizes such as the ECHO Klassik and the Grammy Award.

• 4.1 CDs

Life

Origin and study

Fabio Luisi was born in 1959 as the son of a Tuscan engine driver in Genoa .. Luisi began at the age of four years with a piano training. Because of a serious asthma his parents sought a way of distraction, the decision was made on the music. In his hometown Luisi attended the grammar school " Cristoforo Colombo " and completed his high school education in 1978, a few weeks before with 9.6 of 10 points took his piano diploma exam as a private student of Memi Schiavina at the Conservatory " Niccolò Paganini " in Genoa.

Then he initially enrolled at the University of Genoa in Greek and Latin, but completed no tests and turned on the music. That same summer he met in the south of France, the Italian pianist Aldo Ciccolini Orange who invited him for a master class and further piano studies in Paris. With him Luisi deepened in particular the French repertoire by Debussy and César Franck. At the same time, he continued his piano studies in Italy at Antonio Bacchelli. In 1979 he participated in a piano master class with Adam Harasiewicz on Grafenegg in Lower Austria in part.

Two of these meetings were to conduct in Fabio Luisi mature desire: the soprano Leyla Gencer, with whom he worked as an accompanist for opera and song, and with Rodolfo Celletti, who invited him as a coach to the Festival della Valle d' Itria. After two years as a contract teacher of music theory and chamber music at the Conservatory Giacomo Puccini in northern Italy La Spezia Luisi moved to Austria to begin his Kapellmeister study. The former chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Milan Horvat, whom he had met in Genoa and the operetta head of the Graz Opera, Walter Goldschmidt, were his main teacher at the Musikhochschule in Graz. In 1983 he received his diploma with distinction bandmaster and was later assistant to Milan Horvat.

Professional career

Beginning in Graz and Vienna

After his residency, he joined his first engagement as accompanist and conductor of the Graz Opera. He made his debut as a conductor in 1984, Martina Franca ( Requiem of Domenico Cimarosa ), in the same year at the Graz Opera with Opera buffa Viva la Mamma by Gaetano Donizetti and at the Teatro dell'Opera Giocosa in Genoa Il turco in Italia by Gioachino Rossini. In the following years Luisi conducted at the Graz Opera further operas, operettas and ballets.

Luisi broke up in 1987 by the Graz Opera and began an international conducting activities that brought him as a guest in famous opera houses and symphony orchestras, including the Stuttgart State Theatre (1987 ), National Theatre of Mannheim ( 1987), Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt ( 1988), German Opera Berlin ( 1988), the Opéra National de Bordeaux ( 1988), Munich Radio Orchestra ( 1989) and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (1989). The offered at this time successor of GMD Gabriele Ferro at the Stuttgart Opera, he refused because he simultaneously denied other contract negotiations. In 1989 he made his debut through the mediation of Wolfgang Sawallisch at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, at the Berlin State Opera Unter den Linden and the Vienna State Opera. Since then, Luisi regular guest of this opera houses, with many conducting engagements of repertoire performances, revivals and new productions. In 1990, the Graz Symphony Orchestra was its Artistic Director, a position he held until 1996, re-established.

In 1995, Luisi was chief conductor of the Lower Austrian Musicians Orchestra in Vienna. With this orchestra he made a tour of Japan in 1998 and conducted until the end of his mandate in 2000, more than 250 concerts, the most in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein.

Conducting engagements in Leipzig and Geneva

Together with colleagues Conductor Marcello Viotti and Manfred Honeck took Fabio Luisi in 1996, the successor of Daniel Nazareth and thus the artistic director of the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig. That " triumvirate " existed until 1999, after which Luisi became sole chief conductor of the orchestra. In 2005, he brought with Radio Choir and Orchestra Jean -Luc Darbellays Requiem premiered. His focus was, in addition to overseas tours and concerts in the transmission area, the line of broadcast productions. It has also made recordings of works by Mahler et al, Verdi, Berlioz, Franck and Bizet. Luisi made ​​his contract in 2007 despite offered extension expire until 2009.

In 1997 he was appointed as successor by Armin Jordan Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva (until 2002). With the orchestra he recorded several CDs on, inter alia, a complete recording of the symphonic works of Arthur Honegger and two opera recordings for Philips. Foreign tours have taken him to Japan (1999) and Austria. In Switzerland, he brought 2000 Jean -Luc Darbellays Oyama premiered. In 1997 he made his debut at the Opéra Bastille in Paris. In February 2000, Fabio Luisi gave his entry into the United States with a concert with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and a few months later at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

The beginning of 2000 was Luisi at the request of the director Udo Zimmermann ( 2001-2003) designated as the successor to the outgoing GMD Christian Thielemann general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In the coming months, however, it came to public discharged disputes with the state of Berlin, the Senate finally approved the contract not because of alleged excessive salary demands Luisi. After Fabio Luisi in their own words the "not very competent theater culture senator and some West Berlin politicians " saw exposed, he resigned in late 2000 on the advice of the carpenter to his office. Behind the scenes, the vast majority of the members of the orchestra and the Presidents of the two major parties Klaus -Rüdiger Landowski languages ​​( CDU ) and Klaus Wowereit ( Governing Mayor, SPD ) made for the whereabouts of the old GMD, the Berliner Christian Thielemann.

Involvement in Dresden and Vienna

In 2002, Luisi made ​​his debut in a new production by director Günter Krämer with the opera Die Liebe der Danae by Richard Strauss at the Salzburg Festival. He was invited back in 2003. Thus began a steady collaboration with the Staatskapelle Dresden. Future engagements took him to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and Dresden The Semper Opera House for new productions of Verdi and Puccini ( 2004). Luisi 2005 saw his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. In the United States, he conducted Verdi and Strauss. At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 2005, he led two new productions of Verdi and Humperdinck. His first ring of the Nibelung he headed in 2006 at the Semperoper.

In January 2004, Luisi was nominated as the GMD of the Saxon State Opera Dresden and at the same time as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden. His predecessor Bernard Haitink criticized the opaque voting behavior of orchestra musicians and called for a repeat of the vote, which the orchestra board and the director Gerd Uecker, however, rejected. Luisi took up his new duties properly with the 2007 /08. Luisi initiated in collaboration with the sound power Dresden to set up a yearly changing Capell - Compositeurs. Luisi conducted from 2007 to 2009 premieres of Capell - Compositeure Isabel Mundry, Bernhard Lang ( Monadology II The new Don Quixote ), and Rebecca Saunders. Foreign tours have taken him with the orchestra, inter alia, to Asia and the United States. During this time he received two ECHO Klassik awards for his recordings.

In February 2010, Luisi ended its involvement in Dresden prematurely by extraordinary notice, because he felt that the management of the orchestra had not coordinated talks on a New Year's Eve Concert 2010 on ZDF with him. He insisted on his rights as general music director and saw insurmountable obstacles in the further cooperation between orchestra and conductor. Luisi criticized in this context, the influence of the media in the programmatic design and the associated reluctance of the Saxon Ministry of Science and Art. Its Director, Sabine von Schorlemer, however, demanded that Luisi contract and threatened a legal injury. In the same month Luisi announced the daily newspaper Die Presse " I'm disavowed. " As his successor in 2009, Christian Thielemann, who joined in the 2012/13 season of the Munich Philharmonic to Dresden, chosen after Luisi had waived a contract extension.

Since 2005, Luisi, as the successor of Vladimir Fedosseyev chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; This commitment is expected to end with the expiry of the contract in 2013 Luisi. Until then, he will honor claims to its obligation in Vienna. He brought in 2005 by the Viennese Bernhard Lang DW 14 premiered.

Trip to New York and place in Zurich

Luisi 2010 was principal guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. For two concerts in 2011 he was criticized in some media, because he had to cancel pending obligations with the Vienna Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony for it. For the 2012/13 season he was engaged as Principal Conductor of the Met. He should step in fully until 2013 for the ill GMD James Levine. The management of the Met is already him publicly as a potential successor to Levine.

In autumn 2012, Luisi was also appointed for five years as successor by Daniele Gatti general music director of the Zurich Opera House. He wants to work for a larger repertoire of the orchestra of the opera house. Reinforced and aims to guest performances by the orchestra. For better marketing he had to rename it in Philharmonia Zurich.

Fabio Luisi is with the photographer and violinist Barbara Luisi (born 1964 ) married. They have three children. Since 2011 the family is living with her youngest son in Manhattan. In addition to Italian Luisi speaks French, German and English.

Importance

Fabio Luisi belongs to the younger generation Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly, a, Daniele Gatti and Antonio Pappano. The longtime director of the Vienna State Opera, Ioan Holender resulted in his eulogy of the occasion of the Austrian Cross of Honour: " Fabio Luisi is now a leading conductor in both the concert area as well as in the wide world of opera, and one of the most important and best conductors of our house [ ... ] He is one of those old-fashioned today called, who have learned their profession from the ground up. To those people who passed through long, arduous climb to the summit [ ... ] ".

Luisi called conductors such as Hermann Abendroth, Hans Schmidt- Isserstedt, Keilberth, Eugene Ormandy and Wolfgang Sawallisch as his role models, because they were very industrious and cautious in their way. The former chief dramaturge at the Deutsche Oper Karl Dietrich Gräwe Luisi called a " incorruptible guardian of his craft ." Peter Korfmacher, executive arts editor at the Leipzig People's Daily, sees Luisi an unpretentious conductor. The Austrian conductor Otmar Suitner Fabio Luisi's conducting style compared with that of Leonard Bernstein, because they both have a penchant for energetic and precise tempos. Music critic Egon Bezold attested his elegance and dramaturgical tools. By Luisi flexible up- and-down in musical notation he leaves the vocal soloist for opera performances and freedom of expression. The director of the Semperoper Ulrike Hessler described Luisi's leadership style as democratic. He also has, according to Hessler an experienced eye for young singing talents.

Fabio Luisi has an extensive repertoire. He is one of the leading interpreters of Italian opera and is particularly a renowned Verdi expert. Music critic Georg -Friedrich Kühn interprets his interpretations as " supple, soft, sliding tempos ". DC strongly feels Luisi the late Romantic repertoire of composers such as Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss obliged. For his recordings, he has won several awards. He has also contributed to the rediscovery of the Austrian composer Franz Schmidt. In the field of contemporary music he performed works by, inter alia, Jean -Luc Darbellay and Bernhard Lang premiered. Basically, however, it is the new music critically. The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, he reported: " Most of the new is nothing. [ ... ] Premieres are often an alibi of an orchestra that says: Look, we are interested in new music. Are [ ... ] Much more important revivals of contemporary music. "

Awards

• Fabio Luisi was appointed in 2001 honorary professor of conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater " Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy " Leipzig.
• In January 2002 he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.
• The music magazine Pizzicato recorded him in 2006 for the recording " Beethoven: Mass in C major " with the Supersonic Award for Album of the month of January.
• Luisi received the 2006 " Cavaliere Ufficiale " of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
• In 2008, received the Medal " Commendatore della Stella della dell'Ordine Solidarietà Italiana " ( OSSI ) was awarded.
• For the surround recording of the year 2008 by " Strauss: An Alpine Symphony / Four Last Songs ", he was awarded the ECHO Klassik.
• 2009 received Luisi together with the Staatskapelle Dresden for " Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 " ECHO Klassik, visit the Orchestra of the Year.
• For the Record " Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen " at the Metropolitan Opera, he received the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2013.

Discography (selection)

CDs

• Arias of Chapi, Massenet, Offenbach, Rossini, Villa-Lobos, Montsalvatge, Strauss; Elina Garanca, Saxon State Opera Chorus & Staatskapelle Dresden, 2006; published by DGG 2007.
• Ludwig van Beethoven, Mass in C major; Christiane Oelze, Claudia Mahnke, Christian Elsner, Franz- Josef Selig, MDR Radio Choir Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2005; published by Querstand 2005.
• Vincenzo Bellini Beatrice di Tenda; Lucia Aliberti, Paolo Gavenelli, Camillo Capasso, Martin Thompson, John David de Haan, Choir and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 1991; published by Berlin Classics 2003.
• Vincenzo Bellini 's I Capuleti e Montecchi i; Elina Garanca Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Robert Gleadow, Vienna Singing Academy, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 2008; published by DGG 2009.
• Vincenzo Bellini, I Puritani; Edita Gruberova, Justin Lavender, Ettore Kim, Francesco d' Sant'Ellero Artegna, Katja Lytting, Dankwart Siegele, Carlo Duano, Chorus of the Bavarian Radio, Munich Radio Orchestra, 1993; published by Nightingale Classics 1994.
• Johannes Brahms, Violin Concerto, Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 4; Arabella Steinbacher, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 2007; published by Orfeo 2011.
• Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 7; NTO Tonkünstlerorchester, 1998 ( live); published by ORF Radio Lower Austria in 1998.
• Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 9; Staatskapelle Dresden, 2007; published by Sony Classic 2008.
• Frédéric Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 2, ballads No. 1/2/3/4; Lise de la Salle, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2009; published by Naive 2010.
• Jean -Luc Darbellay, Oyama, Requiem; Julie Kaufmann, Iris Vermillion, Christoph Genz, MDR Radio Choir Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2009; published by Claves 2010.
• Gaetano Donizetti, The favorite; Paolo Coni, Adelisa Tabiadon, Giuseppe Morino, Alessandra Ruffini, Michele Ferruggia, Alessandro Verducci, Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Orchestra Internazionale d' Italia, 1989; published by Nuova Era 2008.
• Arthur Honegger Symphonies Nos. 1-5; L' Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1999; published by Cascavelle Espace 2, 2001.
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1; Vienna Symphony Orchestra; published by Vienna Symphony Orchestra (own label) in 2012.
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2; Fionnula Mc Carthy, Jard van Nees, Vienna Singing club, NTO Tonkünstlerorchester, 1997 ( live); published by ORF Radio Lower Austria in 1997.
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2; Christiane Oelze, Mihoko Fujimura, MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2005; published by Querstand 2006.
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 4; Sandra Trattnigg, MDR Symphony Orchestra, 1997; published by Querstand 2005.
• Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5; MDR Symphony Orchestra, 1997; published by Querstand 2005.
• Gustav Mahler, The Song of the Earth (chamber music version), Songs of a Wayfarer ( Chamber Music version); Doris Soffel, Wolfgang Müller- Lorenz, Roman Trekel, MDR Symphony Orchestra, 1999; published by Querstand 2005.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Idomeneo ( in the processing of Richard Strauss); Robert Gambill, Britta equerry, Camilla Nylund, Iris Vermillion, Christoph Pohl, Jacques- Greg Belobo, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2006; published by Orfeo 2007.
• Gioachino Rossini, William Tell; Nancy Gustafson, Dawn Kotoski, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Thomas Hampson, Walter Fink, Egils Silins, Choir and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, 1998 ( live); published by Orfeo 2005.
• Nino Rota, Musiques de films de Federico Fellini; Amacord, Roma, La Strada, Otto e mezzo, L' Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 2001; published by RSR Espace 2 Elvia 2001;
• Franz Schmidt, Symphonies Nos. 1-4; MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2004; published by Querstand 2005.
• Franz Schmidt, Concertante Variations on a Theme by Beethoven for Piano (left hand) and Orchestra, Concerto in E Major for Piano (left hand) and orchestra; Carlo grenade, MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2005/ 06; published by Querstand 2007.
• Franz Schmidt, The book with seven seals; Herbert Lippert, Jan- Hendrik Rootering, Annette Dasch, Natele Nicoli, Johannes Chum, Günther Groissböck, Michael beauty, MDR Radio Choir Leipzig MDR Symphony Orchestra, 2004; published by Querstand 2005.
• Robert Schumann, Symphony No. 1/2/3/4, Concert Piece for 4 Horns & Orchestra, Op 86; Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 2006-08; published by Orfeo 2010.
• Richard Strauss, Don Juan, From Italy, Don Quixote; Jan Vogler, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2008; published by Sony Classical in 2009.
• Richard Strauss, Don Quixote, Romance for Cello and Orchestra, Sonata in F minor for cello and piano; Jan Vogler, Louis Lortie, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2003/2008; published by Sony Classical in 2009.
• Richard Strauss, Ein Heldenleben, metamorphoses; Staatskapelle Dresden, 2006; published by Sony Classical in 2007.
• Richard Strauss, Four Last Songs, An Alpine Symphony; Anja Harteros, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2006; published by Sony Classical in 2007.
• Giuseppe Verdi Alzira; Marirona Mescheriakova, Ramón Vargas, Paolo Gavanelli, Torsten Kerl, Jana Iliev, Jovo Reljin, Wolfgang Barta, Slobodan Stankovic, Choeur du Grand Théâtre de Genève, L' Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; published by Philips in 2001.
• Giuseppe Verdi, Aroldo; Shicoff, Carol Vaness, Anthony Michaels -Moore, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; published by Philips in 2001.
• Giuseppe Verdi, Jérusalem; Marina Mescheriakova, Marcello Giordani, Roberto Scandiuzzi, L' Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; published by Philips in 2000.
• Riccardo Zandonai, Francesca da Rimini; Elena Filipova, Frederic Kalt, Philippe Rouillon, Kenneth Riegel, Sofia Chamber Choir, Choir of the Vienna Volksoper, Vienna Symphony Orchestra; published by Koch Schwann - ORF 1997.

• Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1, Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1, Harald Genzmer, Presto from Suite for Piano in C major; Margarita Höhenrieder, Staatskapelle Dresden; published by Medici in 2009.
• Ludwig van Beethoven, Missa Solemnis; Carmen Nylund, Birgit Remmert, Christian Elsner, Rene Pape, State Opera Chorus Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2005 ( live); published by Euro Arts, ZDF, ARTE, 2006.
• Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier; Anne Schwanewilms, Kurt Rydl, Anke Vondung, Hans -Joachim Ketelsen, Maki Mori, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2007; published by Medici in 2008.
• Giuseppe Verdi, Nabucco; Leo Nucci, Peter Dvorsky, Giacomo Prestia, Maria Guleghina, Chorus & Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, 2001; published by TDK 2009.
• Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto; Diana Damrau, Juan Diego Florez, Zeljko Lucic, Staatskapelle Dresden, 2008; published by EMI in 2010.
• Richard Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen; Stephanie Blythe, Jonas Kaufmann, Hans -Peter King, Jay Hunter Morris, Eric Owens, Gerhard Siegel, Bryn Terfel, Deborah Voigt, Eva -Maria Westbroek, Orchestra and Chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine, 2010-2012; published by DGG, 2012.

Writings (selection )

• Ernest Hötzl music history today? Attempt at perspective. With a foreword by Fabio Luisi. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-205-98373-4.
• It was only half the battle. Autobiography. Recorded by Walter Dobner. Böhlau Verlag, Wien, 2008, ISBN 978-3-205-77737-3.