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 2022-23 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 Emmanuel 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 programmes, 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 2022/23 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.