Fabio Luisi's a busy man. The 2013-2014 season finds him conducting operas at Zurich, the Met and La Scala, as well as giving countless concerts throughout the world.
In his second season as General Music Director of the Zurich Opera, Luisi premieres new productions of Fidelio and Aida, with revivals of La straniera, Les contes d'Hoffmann, and Don Carlo with René Pape, which also serves as the vehicle for his return to the Teatro alla Scala, after his début at the Milanese house with Manon last season.
In the concert hall he will be conducting the Philharmonia Zurich, he will make his début with the London Symphony Orchestra, and he returns to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and Cleveland Orchestra.
Hold on, breathe deeply, we haven't finished yet…
Fabio Luisi is also Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, and this season he will conduct Madama Butterfly and La Cenerentola, which will be transmitted live to movie theaters around the world in the Met's celebrated Live in HD series.
Loved in New York, his first performances at the Met won him kudos from the New York Times:
A musician who knew exactly what he wanted and conveyed it through the Met's orchestra and chorus with electrical jolts of conductorial will.
His exhausting schedule doesn't mean he skates over preparation and lacks dedication to his various projects; he just works hard. During August he won a 2013 Echo Klassik Award for the Best Music DVD Recording of the Year Award for his conducting of Siegfried and Gotterdammerung on the Deutsche Grammophon DVD release of Wagner's Ring Cycle, recorded live at the Metropolitan Opera, and for which he'd already won a Grammy Award in February for Best Opera Recording.
If you want to catch one of his 70 performances during the next season, here's the when and where, so get your running shoes on… he moves fast.
Fabio Luisi: upcoming engagements, 2013-14
Sep 19 & 21
Cleveland Orchestra
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat (“Emperor”), Op. 73 (with Hélène Grimaud, piano)
Mahler: Symphony No. 4
Sep 20
Cleveland Orchestra
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat (“Emperor”), Op. 73 (with Hélène Grimaud, piano)
Schumann: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat (“Spring”), Op. 38
Sep 28; Oct 2, 6, 13, 17 & 22
Zurich Opera
Bellini: La straniera
Sep 29
Philharmonia Zurich
Einem: Capriccio, Op. 2
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (with Lise de la Salle, piano)
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Oct 12, 16, 19, 23 & 26
Teatro alla Scala, Milan
Verdi: Don Carlo
Oct 18 & 20
Orchestra dell'Accademia della Scala
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Strauss: Don Juan
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Oct 21
Orchestra dell'Accademia della Scala
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Strauss: Don Juan
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A
Nov 8-10
Philharmonia Zurich
Schmidt: Fantasia for Piano and Orchestra (with Jasminka Stancul, piano)
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D
Dec 8, 12, 15, 18, 20, 29; Jan 1 & 5
Zurich Opera
Beethoven: Fidelio (new production)
Dec 22
Philharmonia Zurich
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 (with Lise de la Salle, piano)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”)
Feb 15, 21, 23, 26; March 1
Zurich Opera
Verdi: Don Carlo
March 2
Brunch Concert: Fabio Luisi and Friends
Schmidt: Clarinet Quintet (Fabio Luisi, piano)
March 2, 6, 9, 13, 16, 19, 22, 26, 29; April 1
Zurich Opera
Verdi: Aida (new production)
March 16
Philharmonia Zurich
Hartmann: Concerto funèbre (with Hanna Weinmeister, violin)
Mahler: Symphony No. 1
March 21, 25, 28, 30; April 2
Zurich Opera
Offenbach: Les contes d'Hoffmann
April 21, 25, 28; May 2, 6, & 10
Metropolitan Opera
Rossini: La Cenerentola
May 1, 5 & 9
Metropolitan Opera
Puccini: Madama Butterfly
May 15, 16 & 18
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Honegger: Rugby
Lalo: Symphonie espagnole
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3
May 31; June 1 & 3
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Lang: Monadologie II, Don Quichote
Strauss: Don Quixote
Schumann: Symphony No. 1
June 19 & 22
London Symphony Orchestra (debut)
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, K. 488 (with Lise de la Salle, piano)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
July 6
Philharmonia Zurich
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 (with Lise de la Salle, piano)
Beethoven: Mass in C, Op. 86
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Photo by Barbara Luisi
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
