The Score | Dallas Symphony Taps Fabio Luisi as Music Director

Fabio Luisi has been appointed music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He will serve as music director designate in the 2019-20 season, assuming the title of music director in the 2020-21 season. Luisi succeeds Jaap van Zweden, who ended his Dallas tenure in May 2018 to become music director of the New York Philharmonic. Perhaps best known in the U.S. for his time as principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and guest engagements with leading American orchestras, Luisi currently holds positions as principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, general music director of the Zurich Opera, and music director of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Previous posts include artistic leadership roles at the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In 2020-21, Luisi will conduct the DSO for seven weeks, expanding his time in Dallas during his five-year contract. Under Luisi’s supervision, the DSO will launch a ten-year program to commission 20 new works; the project will yield at least ten new works by female composers. The DSO plans international tours as well as an annual opera-in-concert during Luisi’s tenure.