Fabio Luisi began his appointment as Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony in 2005 and recently extended his contract until 2013.Beginning in 2010 he has been appointed Music Director of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Mr. Luisi was Generalmusikdirektor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and Saechsische Staatsoper (2007-2010), Artistic Director of the MDR in Leipzig (1999-2007), Music Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (1997-2002), Chief Conductor of the Tonkuenstlerorchester in Vienna (1995-2000) and Artistic Director of the Graz Symphony (1990-1996).   He was recently appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera beginning 2010-2011.

Mr. Luisi maintains an active schedule of guest engagements with international orchestras and opera companies. He has appeared with, among others, the Orchestre de Paris, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Vienna Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony in Tokyo, Munich Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Additionally, he is a frequent guest at the Vienna Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper,  Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper in Berlin. He made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with Richard Strauss' Die Liebe der Danae in 2002 and returned the following season for Strauss' Die Ägyptische Helena.

During the 2009-10 season in addition to concerts in Dresden and tours with the Staatskapelle, he tours extensively with the Vienna Symphony in Europe and in Japan. In the summer of 2010 he begins his tenure as artistic director  of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. Guest engagements include a new production of Tosca at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich for the Opera Festival, and at the Metropolitan Opera Elektra, Hansel und Gretel, Le Nozze di Figaro, Tosca and Lulu. He conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Gurzenich Orchestra of Cologne and the Philharmonia Orchestra of London in the UK and Hong Kong.

Mr. Luisi made his American debut in 2000 both with the New York Philharmonic and with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a new production of Rigoletto. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 2005 with Don Carlo. He returned in 2007 for a new production of Die Ägyptische Helena as well as for Simon Boccanegra and Turandot.

His recordings include rare Verdi operas (Jérusalem, Alzira, Aroldo), Salieri's La Locandiera, Bellini's I puritani and symphonic repertoire of Honegger, Respighi and Liszt. He recorded all symphonies and the oratorio Das Buch mit den sieben Siegeln by the neglected Austrian composer Franz Schmidt. He has recorded several Works by Richard Strauss for Sony Classical and a highly awarded Anton Bruckner's 9th Symphony with Dresden Staatskapelle.

Born in Genoa in 1959, Mr. Luisi began his piano studies at the age of four and received his diploma in 1978 from the Conservatorio Nicolò Paganini. He later attended conducting studies with Milan Horvat at the Conservatory in Graz.