“Fabio Luisi, who begins his first full season as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s music director-designate with concerts Sept. 12-15 is a compact, dapper, soft-spoken Italian,” writes Scott Cantrell in Wednesday’s (9/4) Dallas Morning News. “When Luisi in March 2018 conducted the DSO in Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, a piece that often tempts conductors into excess, the performance was notable for careful structure and layering of dynamics. Luisi is conducting another dramatic Strauss tone poem, the Alpine Symphony, in his season-opening concerts…. Luisi says, ‘My style is to put accents on articulation and proper readings, and on the beauty of the sound… I know that American orchestras tend to be very muscular. That is not the way I intend to work with this orchestra.’ … He wants to do an opera in concert each season, and to include more American music…. The 2019-20 season includes rare performances of Franz Schmidt’s Book of the Seven Seals and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony as well as a concert version of Strauss’ familiar opera Salome.… What does Luisi do to relax? ‘Golf playing, perfume making, reading books, watching movies,’ he says…. Perfume making?… ‘It’s a hobby,’ he says. ‘I’m not a professional.’ ”
Posted September 10, 2019
In photo: Music Director Designate Fabio Luisi leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at Meyerson Symphony Center on April 18, 2019. Photo by Allison Slomowitz
