Direction
Fabien Gabel
Lucerne Symphony Orchestra debut: February 28, 2024
Emotional and shapely
Fabien Gabel has enjoyed an international career at the highest level, performing with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Praised for his dynamic style and sensitive approach to the score, he is best known for his eclectic repertoire choices, ranging from central symphonic works to new music and support for lesser-known 19th and 20th century composers.
Gabel begins the 2022/23 season with his debut at the BBC Proms, performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The season continues with appearances with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. He makes his debut with the Vienna Symphony and at the Opera de Paris in Calixto Bieito’s production of “Carmen.”
Also in Paris this season, he begins a large-scale project recording a new score for Abel Gance’s epic film “Napoleon” with the Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, a production that will be seen in movie theaters, online streaming and live performances.
In North America, he continues his established relationships with orchestras such as the Minnesota Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and debuts with the Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Baltimore and Chicago Symphony Orchestras.
Fabien Gabel performs with soloists such as Yefim Bronfman, Emmanuel Ax, Bertrand Chamayou, Seong-Jin Cho, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Augustin Hadelich, Simone Lamsma, Daniel Lozakovich, Christian Tetzlaff, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Håkan Hardenberger, Emmanuel Pahud, and with singers such as Measha Brueggergosman, Natalie Dessay, Petra Lang, Jennifer Larmore, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Danielle de Niese and Michael Schade.
After attracting international attention as winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2004, Fabien Gabel was assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2006. He was music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec 2012-2021 and the Orchestre Français des Jeunes 2017-2021.
Fabien Gabel was born in Paris to a family of musicians and began playing the trumpet at the age of six, which he deepened at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. He played with various Parisian orchestras under prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink before beginning his career as a conductor. Fabien Gabel was named “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government in January 2020.
Gabel conjured up a musical vision that was poignant in its intensity.
