Fabio Luisi’s fall 2024: Ring cycle in concert with Dallas Symphony; Scriabin recordings and Mahler with Danish National Symphony; Japan tour with NHK Symphony; much more
(August 2024) — Grammy- and ECHO Klassik Award-winning conductor Fabio Luisi conducts
a wide range of repertoire this fall on three continents, continuing his fruitful partnerships with
three major orchestras. In his fifth season as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO), he leads opera-in-concert performances of all four
operas in Wagner’s Ring cycle (Oct 13, 15, 17, 20), in addition to standalone performances of
Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Oct 5, 8), a groundbreaking undertaking that marks a first for
any U.S. orchestra in recent history. Also Principal Conductor of both the Danish National
Symphony Orchestra (DNSO) and Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra, Luisi conducts the
former ensemble this fall in four sets of performances at home in Copenhagen, with highlights
including Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde featuring tenor Jamez McCorkle and mezzo-soprano
Jamie Barton (Aug 29, 30), Augustin Hadelich performing Brahms’s Violin Concerto (Sep 5,
6), Bruce Liu featured in Scriabin’s Piano Concerto (Nov 7, 9), and performances of the same
composer’s Second and Third Symphonies (Oct 24, 25; Sep 5, 6). Luisi and the DNSO will also
finish recording Scriabin’s complete symphonies this fall, for future release on Deutsche
Grammophon. In the third of his three major posts, Luisi and the NHK Symphony are joined by
pianist Hélène Grimaud at two venues in Tokyo and on tour to two other Japanese cities,
performing Schumann’s Piano Concerto along with music of Schubert and Beethoven (Sep
19–23). The conductor returns to Tokyo in November and December for four more programs,
highlighted by collaborations with soprano Christiane Karg (Nov 30; Dec 1), pianist Nelson
Goerner (Dec 5, 6), and tenor Jamez McCorkle once again (Dec 13, 14), plus six performances
of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Dec 18–24).
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Following concert performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in spring 2024, Luisi leads the
Dallas Symphony in performances of Richard Wagner’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung this fall
(Oct 5 & 8), before giving concert accounts over the course of a week of the entire Ring cycle,
becoming the first U.S. orchestra in recent history to do so (Oct 13, 15, 17, 20). This enormous
endeavor is the culmination of many years of planning by DSO artistic staff and leadership and
features a huge orchestra of over 100 players and a cast of more than 30 vocalists on stage at the
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. The star-studded cast list includes soprano Lise
Lindstrom (Brünnhilde), soprano Sara Jakubiak (Sieglinde), mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun
(Fricka), tenor Daniel Johansson (Siegfried), bass-baritone Mark Delavan (Wotan), and baritone
Tómas Tómasson (Alberich). The staging director for the production will be Alberto Triola, who
also produced the DSO’s opera-in-concert performances of Richard Strauss’ Salome in 2020 and
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in 2022. As Scott Cantrell wrote in Gramophone of the spring
performances of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre: “Luisi left no doubt of his mastery of the
music, from subtly shaped intimations to scorching climaxes, everything organically
integrated.”
Prior to the Ring cycle, Luisi opens his fall season in Dallas with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Gala, welcoming special guest Lang Lang for a performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto
No. 2 (Sep 28). In November, the conductor welcomes Italian-American violinist Francesca
Dego, praised by Gramophone for “playing that combines tonal purity, verve and an evident
delight in the unexpected,” for a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, along with
Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony (Nov 22–24).
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Luisi opens the DNSO season with a pairing of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony with Mahler’s
Das Lied von der Erde (Aug 29, 30). The latter features mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, lauded by
Opera magazine as “a once-in-a-generation voice, a born communicator, [and] a deeply
compassionate human being,” along with young American tenor Jamez McCorkle – celebrated for
multiple critically acclaimed appearances in the title role of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning
opera Omar, and cast in the role of Froh in the Dallas Symphony’s concert performances of Das
Rheingold.
Luisi and the DNSO are joined by stellar violinist Augustin Hadelich for their second set of
concerts, which juxtapose Brahms’s Violin Concerto with Scriabin’s Third Symphony. In
September and October, Luisi will finish recording Scriabin’s complete symphonies – a body of
work The Guardian once termed “one of the most orgiastic, ecstatic and extreme musics in the
repertoire” – with the orchestra for future release on Deutsche Grammophon (Sep 5, 6).
Following their last DG release of the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen, Luisi and the DNSO
garnered Gramophone Awards for Orchestral and Recording of the Year for 2023 for their
accounts of the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. The Gramophone review elaborated:
“These are quite marvellous – and in the case of the Fourth Symphony, incendiary – performances.
There’s something about the temperament of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra when they
rejoice in the bracing and songful adventures of their favourite son and with an Italian at the helm
there is further assurance that this music will sing.”
Gramophone also raved elsewhere about the Nielsen collection, declaring that it contained
“accounts that rival the all-time finest” and that “the quality of playing and recording is
stupendous.”
In live performance, Luisi and the DNSO feature Scriabin’s Second Symphony in October, along
with Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik and Mozart concert arias sung by mezzo-soprano Maria
Schellenberg (Oct 24, 25). Pianist Bruce Liu joins them for Scriabin’s Piano Concerto, sharing
the bill with Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony (Nov 7, 9).
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo
With the NHK Symphony, following a three-stop tour in Taiwan this summer, Luisi opens the
season with Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8 (Sep 14, 15), before being joined by pianist Hélène
Grimaud for Schumann’s Piano Concerto, bookended by Schubert’s Overture in the Italian
Style No. 2 and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (Sep 19–23). Performances in Tokyo’s NHK
Hall and Suntory Hall are followed by regional performances in the cities of Ashikaga and
Takasaki. In November and December, Luisi and the orchestra close out the fall season with
soprano Christiane Karg in songs of Richard Strauss, along with music of Wagner and
Schoenberg (Nov 30 & Dec 1); pianist Nelson Goerner in Rachmaninov’s Third Piano
Concerto along with music of Smetana and Mussorgsky (Dec 5, 6); an all-Liszt program, again
featuring tenor Jamez McCorkle (Dec 13, 14); and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (Dec 18–24).
After four Beethoven performances in Tokyo’s NHK Hall, Luisi and the orchestra give two more
accounts of the work in Suntory Hall, with the added attraction of Japanese organist Keiko
Nakata opening the concert with Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in F on the venue’s spectacular
concert organ, one of the largest in the world (Dec 23, 24).
High-resolution photos can be downloaded here.
Fabio Luisi: fall 2024 engagements
Aug 29 & 30
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony Orchestra (season opener)
Jamez McCorkle, tenor
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde
SCHUBERT: “Unfinished” Symphony
Sep 5 & 6
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Augustin Hadelich, violin
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto
SCRIABIN: Symphony No. 3, “The Divine Poem”
Sep 14 & 15
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra (season opener)
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 8 in C minor (first version/1887)
Sep 19 & 20
Tokyo, Japan
Suntory Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Hélène Grimaud, piano
SCHUBERT: Overture in the Italian Style No. 2 in C, D.591
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92
Sep 22
Ashikaga, Japan
Ashikaga Flower Park Plaza / Culture Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Hélène Grimaud, piano
SCHUBERT: Overture in the Italian Style No. 2 in C, D.591
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92
Sep 23
Takasaki, Japan
Takasaki City Theatre, Grand Theatre
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Hélène Grimaud, piano
SCHUBERT: Overture in the Italian Style No. 2 in C, D.591
SCHUMANN: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92
Sep 28
Dallas, Texas
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Gala
Lang Lang, piano
RACHMANINOV: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor
Oct 5–20
Dallas, Texas
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Wagner’s Ring cycle
Oct 5: Siegfried
Oct 8: Götterdämmerung
Oct 13: Das Rheingold
Oct 15: Die Walküre
Oct 17: Siegfried
Oct 20: Götterdämmerung
Principal cast to include:
Lise Lindstrom, soprano (Brünnhilde)
Sara Jakubiak, soprano (Sieglinde)
Deniz Uzun, mezzo-soprano (Fricka)
Daniel Johansson, tenor (Siegfried)
Mark Delavan, bass-baritone (Wotan)
Tómas Tómasson, baritone (Alberich)
Staging Director: Alberto Triola
Oct 24 & 25
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Maria Schellenberg, mezzo-soprano
MOZART: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
MOZART: “Ombra felice”
MOZART: “Parto inerme, e non pavento”
SCRIABIN: Symphony No. 2
Nov 4
Milan, Italy
Teatro alla Scala
Filarmonica della Scala
Imogen Cooper, piano
MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K 466
STRAUSS: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Op. 59
Nov 7 & 9
Copenhagen, Denmark
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Bruce Liu, piano
SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6, “Pathétique”
Nov 22–24
Dallas, Texas
Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Francesca Dego, violin
BEETHOVEN: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D, Op. 61
MOZART: Symphony No. 41, “Jupiter”
Nov 30 & Dec 1
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Christiane Karg, soprano
WAGNER: Prelude and “Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde
R. STRAUSS: “Das Rosenband,” Op. 36-1
R. STRAUSS: “Freundliche Vision,” Op. 48-1
R. STRAUSS: “Waldseligkeit,” Op. 49-1
R. STRAUSS: “Befreit,” Op. 39-4
R. STRAUSS: “Morgen,” Op. 27-4
SCHOENBERG: Pelleas und Melisande, Op. 5
Dec 5 & 6
Tokyo, Japan
Suntory Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Nelson Goerner, piano
SMETANA: Overture to The Bartered Bride
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL: Pictures at an Exhibition
Dec 13 & 14
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Jamez McCorkle, tenor
Tokyo Opera Singers
LISZT: Tasso: lamento e trionfo
LISZT: Eine Faust-Symphonie
Dec 18, 19, 21, 22
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Henriette Bonde-Hansen, soprano
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano
Stuart Skelton, tenor
Tómas Tómasson, bass-baritone
New National Theatre Chorus
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral”
Dec 23 & 24
Tokyo, Japan
Suntory Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra
Henriette Bonde-Hansen, soprano
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano
Stuart Skelton, tenor
Tómas Tómasson, bass-baritone
New National Theatre Chorus
Keiko Nakata, organ
BACH: Toccata and Fugue in F, BWV 540
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, “Choral”
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