Fabien Gabel has established an international career of the highest caliber, appearing with orchestras such as London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Minnesota Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester, Oslo Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Praised for his dynamic style and sensitive approach to the score, he is best known for his eclectic repertoire choices ranging from core symphonic works to new music to championing lesser-known composers of the 19th and the 20th century.

Gabel’s 2022-2023 season includes a number of highly-anticipated debuts, beginning with the BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, followed by the Wiener Symphoniker, and at Opéra de Paris, leading Calixto Beito’s production of ‘Carmen’, while in North America he makes his debuts with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Baltimore. The season also includes return appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester in Vienna, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, and West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Also in Paris, in the current season he embarks upon a large-scale project to record the music for Abel Gance’s 1927 epic silent film "Napoléon" with the Orchestre National de France and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, in a production which will appear in cinemas, for online streaming and in live performances.

Fabien Gabel performs with soloists such as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Bertrand Chamayou, Seong-Jin Cho, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Augustin Hadelich, Simone Lamsma, Daniel Lozakovich, Christian Tetzlaff, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Håkan Hardenberger, Emmanuel Pahud, and with singers such as Measha Brueggergosman, Natalie Dessay, Petra Lang, Jennifer Larmore, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Danielle de Niese, and Michael Schade.

Having attracted international attention in 2004 as the winner of the Donatella Flick conducting competition, Fabien Gabel was assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra 2004-2006. He was music director of Orchestre Symphonique de Québec 2012-2021 and Orchestre Francais de Jeunes 2017-2021. 

Born in Paris to a family of accomplished musicians, Fabien Gabel began playing the trumpet at the age of six and honed his skills at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. He played with various Parisian orchestras under prominent conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, and Bernard Haitink before embarking on his conducting career.

Alexandra Dariescu, creator of “The Nutcracker and I,” is a pianist for the 21st century, standing out as an original voice whose fundamental values are shining a light on gender equality in both her concerto and recital programs, championing and premiering lesser-known works. In demand as a soloist worldwide, she has performed with eminent orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Oslo Philharmonic and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, whilst the list of conductors she has worked with includes Adam Fischer, Cristian Mă celaru, Fabien Gabel, Jun Märkl, Vasily Petrenko, Ryan Bancroft, James Gaffigan, Jonathon Heyward, JoAnn Falletta, and Michael Francis.

In the 2022-2023 season, Dariescu makes her debut with Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie under Alain Altinoglu on La Monnaie’s 250th anniversary. Throughout the season, Dariescu holds three Artist-in-Residence titles, starting at Pfalztheater-Kaiserslautern Germany, where she explores fascinating juxtapositions between male and female composers, illuminating an inclusive picture of various historic artistic movements. In Canada she returns to Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, whilst in the US she debuts with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra as their Artist-in-Residence, followed by the Florida Orchestra. For her third residency this season, she returns to Iserlohn’s Internationale Herbsttage für Musik. Further highlights include debuts with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra and Real Filharmonía de Galicia, a tour of “The Nutcracker and I” in the UK, Germany and Greece, and recitals in the US with Angela Gheorghiu. Most recently, Dariescu made the world premiere recording of the newly discovered piano concerto by Leokadiya Kashperova with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for BBC Radio 3, and has been appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music.

James Lee III, born 1975 in St. Joseph, Michigan, cites as his major composition teachers Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Betsy Jolas, Susan Botti, Erik Santos, and James Aikman. He graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in 2005. As a composition fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2002, he added Osvaldo Golijov, Michael Gandolfi, Steven Mackey, and Kaija Saariaho to his roster of teachers, and studied conducting with Stefan Asbury.

In 2006 he premiered Beyond Rivers of Vision in Washington DC at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra. During his inaugural concerts as the new music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, DSO Music Director Emeritus Leonard Slatkin premiered A Different Soldier’s Tale with the orchestra in Detroit on December 11–14, 2008. The National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra have performed Lee’s works. Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performed Beyond Rivers of Vision on January 29–30, 2010.

The 2009-2010 season also included the world premieres of 12 Preludes of the New Earth for piano by Daniel Lau (November), A Clean Heart for mixed chorus by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society (December), Scenes Upon Eternity’s Edge for flute, violin, cello, and piano by the Monument Piano Trio and flute (February), and a Morgan Fanfare by the Morgan State University Band with Melvin Miles directing (April). During the 2009–2010 season Dr. Lee won the Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City. He was also the composer-in-residence for the Ritz Chamber Players, an African American chamber music society based in Jacksonville, Florida. Performances with that organization included the Florida premiere of The Appointed Time for string quartet. Pianist Terrence Wilson also performed Lee’s sonata for piano in Seattle, Washington on April 29, 2010.

In May 2010, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performed a movement from Beyond Rivers of Vision. Lee was also commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to compose a work about the life of Harriet Tubman. The work is called Chuphshah! Harriet’s Drive to Canaan and it was premiered on September 23-25, 2011. He was also named the winner of the Sphinx Commissioning Consortium for the 2011-2012 season. Lee composed a new work called Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula that was premiered by Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony Orchestra on October 15-16, 2011 in Miami Beach, FL. 

Other performances of Lee’s work include performances of Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula with the Cincinnati Symphony (January 2012) and the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra (February 2012). February 1, 2012 included another performance of Lee’s string quartet The Appointed Time. On this particular occasion, the Harlem Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players presented it at the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts at James Madison University. On February 15, 2012 the Ritz Chamber Players gave the world premiere of Mr. Lee’s Night Visions of Kippur (piano quintet) at the University of Washington Meany Hall in Seattle.

On January 13, 2013 Gye Nyame for chamber orchestra was premiered by Janise White and the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra in Los Angeles, California. Also during the 2012-2013 season Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula was performed by the Akron Symphony Orchestra in November 2012. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra also played this same work in March 2013. Later in the month of March, Lee’s newest work for band, Ancient Words, Current Realities! was premiered by the St. Olaf Band at the College Band Directors National Association Conference in Greensboro, NC. 

During the month of April, Lee also saw the premiere of his Piano Sonata No. 2 “The Remnant” premiered at the University of Illinois by pianist, Dr. Rochelle Sennet. Recently, Lee has been invited to be a composer among a list of internationally recognized composers to participate in the Psalms Project of the organization Soli Deo Gloria. His setting of Psalm 111 was premiered at the Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis on October 19, 2013. Other works and premieres of music by Lee during the 2013-2014 season include Fantasy on the Star-Spangled Banner by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on September 20–22, 2013, A Revelação Através do Santuário premiered by Jetro Oliveira and the choir of the Adventist University of São Paulo in Engenheiro Coelho and Americana, São Paulo, Brazil on September 22 & 24, 2013. On October 1, 2013, mezzo soprano Denyce Graves and the Sphinx Virtuosi premiered Lee’s arrangement of “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit.” On February 23, 2014, the Harlem Chamber Players will perform Lee’s string quartet The Appointed Time at the Brooklyn Public Library in Brooklyn, NY. On March 1, the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra will premiere Alas! Babylon’s Final Sunset in Shriver Hall on the campus of Johns Hopkins University. From August to December 2014, Lee was a Fulbright Scholar and Visiting Professor to the State University of Campinas in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. He taught composition, composed, and researched the music of 20th and 21st century Brazilian composers.

Highlights of the 2015-2016 for Lee include the premiere performances of Piano Trio No. 2 “Temple Visions” by the Montrose Trio in Portland, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Detroit, and the world premiere of Thurgood’s Rhapsody commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for their centennial season celebration. Other works that will be premiered include Hallelu Yah! for the Baltimore Choral Arts Society in March 2016, Concerto for Piano and Winds for pianist, Dr. Rochelle Sennet in April 2016, and Mother’s Lament for soprano, boys choir, men’s chorus, and orchestra on September 17, 2016 in Baltimore at Morgan State University. Lee is also an associate professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. His Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula was performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on October 20 & 22, 2016 in Atlanta, GA and his Night Visions of Kippur was performed at a contemporary music festival in Havana, Cuba on November 15, 2016. 

Since Lee’s graduation with a DMA in composition from the University of Michigan in 2005, his orchestral works have been commissioned and premiered by the National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Omaha, Pasadena, Memphis, Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Akron, and have been conducted by such artists as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, David Lockington, Thomas Wilkins, and others. During the 2019-2020 season, Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula was performed by the Louisiana Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lee’s Concerto for Piano and Symphonic Band was premiered by Dr. Rochelle Sennet and the Morgan State University Symphonic Band in April 2016. His Concerto for Clarinet and Symphonic Band was premiered in Córdoba, Argentina by Nicolás Panatteri and the Symphonic Band of the Province of Córdoba in September 2016.

Lee is also a winner of a Charles Ives Scholarship and the Wladimir Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chamber organizations such as the Montrose Trio, Ritz Chamber Players, and the Harlem Chamber Players have performed and premiered music by James Lee III. Pianist Dr. Rochelle Sennet recorded his piano music on the Albany Label in 2014. Dr. Sennet and her husband Igor Kalnin premiered his second violin sonata on March 16, 2019 at Luther College in Decorah, IA. Lee’s works have been premiered and performed internationally in Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and Cuba. Soprano Alison Buchanan also premiered a new song cycle composed especially for her in Jacksonville, FL and London, England in January and February 2019. In May 2019, Lee will see the premiere of his Sinfonia de Esperanza in Lima, Peru as part of the University of the Peruvian Adventist Union’s centennial celebrations. During the 2019-20 season the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Lee’s Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula in September, October, and November.

During the 2021-2022 season, Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula will be performed by the New World Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in October. Also in October, world premieres of new works include Amer’ican, which will be premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Niiji Memories, a flute concerto, will be premiered by Julietta Curenton and the Columbia Orchestra. In November the Calyx Piano Trio will premiere Lee’s Tones of Clay at Tanglewood. Later in November, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform his Emotive Transformations. Other world premieres in early 2022 include Freedom’s Genuine Dawn to be premiered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in January, Arukah Symphony to be premiered by the Maryland Symphony Orchestra in February, Hold On, America, Hold On! to be premiered by the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra and Violin Concerto No. 2 “Teshuah” to be premiered by violinist Carla Trynchuk and the Andrews University Symphony Orchestra in March. In April, Tethered Voices will be premiered by the University Symphony Orchestra at the University of Michigan and a new work for soprano and string quartet that will be premiered by Karen Slack and the Pacifica String Quartet at Carnegie Hall in New York and Shriver Hall in Baltimore in May. Lee is a Professor of Music at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.