Fabio Luisi has conducted many of Europe's most prestigious orchestras as well as New York's Metropolitan Opera for six years. As of the early 2020s, he was principal conductor of orchestras in Dallas, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.

Luisi was born in Genoa, Italy, on January 17, 1959. His first instrument was the piano, and he earned a diploma on that instrument at the Paganini Conservatory in his native city, studying with Memi Schiavina. Moving to Paris, he took further lessons from Aldo Ciccolini and Antonio Bacchelli. Finding work as a piano accompanist employed by singer Leyla Gencer, he began to become interested in conducting. He moved to Graz, Austria, and took conducting lessons with Milan Horvat. Luisi worked at the Graz Opera as an accompanist and was soon able to move into conducting slots. He made his formal debut at the Graz Opera in 1984 and was soon hired for guest conducting appearances around Europe. In 1990, he founded the Graz Symphony Orchestra, with himself as music director, and he remained in that position until 1995.

In 1992, Luisi made his recording debut, leading a production of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda on the Berlin Classics label with the Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin. From 1995 to 2000, he was chief conductor and artistic director of the Tonkünstler Orchestra in Vienna, and from 1996 to 1999, he was also one of three conductors of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra; he became sole chief conductor in 1999.

Luisi helmed several more opera recordings in the 1990s. His orchestral recording career began after he was appointed principal conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in 1997, remaining there until 2002; in 2000, he released an album of symphonies by Honegger on the RSR label. He continued to conduct the MDR Orchestra after stepping down and recorded works by Mahler and Franz Schmidt with that group. In 2004, Luisi was named music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Semperoper in Dresden; he assumed the posts in 2007 but stepped down in 2010 when the management booked the Staatskapelle Dresden for a German television appearance with Christian Thielemann as conductor without asking Luisi. Instead, he devoted his energies to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, where he became chief conductor in 2005, and to increasingly frequent appearances in the U.S., where he made his debut appearance at the Metropolitan Opera that year. In 2010, he became principal guest conductor, ascending to principal conductor the following year due to the illness of James Levine. He was named principal conductor the following year, remaining in the post until 2017.

Meanwhile, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra named Luisi principal conductor in 2013; his contract there has been extended through 2026. After several guest appearances, he was named music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2020; in Dallas, his contract has been extended through 2029. Luisi also became the conductor of Japan's NHK Symphony Orchestra in 2022. He has continued to record with many of the orchestras with which he has been associated. By the early 2020s, his recording catalog comprised more than 60 items, including a 2022 album with the Danish National Symphony featuring the Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 of Carl Nielsen. ~ James Manheim