GRAMMY Award winner Fabio Luisi launched his tenure as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) at the start of the 2020-21 season. In January 2021, the DSO and Luisi announced an extension of the music director’s contract through the 2028-29 season. A maestro of major international standing, the Italian conductor is also set to embark on his sixth season as principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and in September 2022 he assumed the role of principal conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. He previously served for six seasons as principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and nine seasons as general music director of the Zurich Opera.

In September 2022, Luisi and the Dallas Symphony released their first recording project together. Brahms’s First and Second Symphonies is available through the DSO’s in-house DSO Live label. 

The conductor received his first GRAMMY Award in March 2013 for his leadership of the last two operas of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, when Deutsche Grammophon’s DVD release of the full cycle, recorded live at the Met, was named Best Opera Recording of 2012. In February 2015, the Philharmonia Zurich launched its Philharmonia Records label with three Luisi recordings: Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a double album surveying Wagner’s Preludes and Interludes, and a DVD of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Subsequent releases have included a survey of Rachmaninov’s Four Piano Concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with soloist Lise de la Salle, and a rare recording of the original version of Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No. 8. Luisi’s extensive discography also includes rare Verdi operas (Jérusalem, Alzira and Aroldo), Salieri’s La locandiera, Bellini’s I puritani and I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Anna Netrebko and Elīna Garanča for Deutsche Grammophon, and the symphonic repertoire of Honegger, Respighi and Liszt. He has recorded all the symphonies and the oratorio Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln by neglected Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, several works by Richard Strauss for Sony Classical, and an award – winning account of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Staatskapelle Dresden.

Born in Genoa in 1959, Luisi began piano studies at the age of four and received his diploma from the Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini in 1978. He later studied conducting with Milan Horvat at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Graz. Named both Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana and Commendatore della Stella d’Italia for his role in promoting Italian culture abroad, in 2014 he was awarded the Grifo d’Oro, the highest honor given by the city of Genoa, for his contributions to the city’s cultural legacy. Off the podium, Luisi is an accomplished composer whose Saint Bonaventure Mass received its world premiere at St. Bonaventure University, followed by its New York City premiere in the MetLiveArts series, with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Chorus. As reported by the New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning and elsewhere, he is also a passionate maker of perfumes, which he produces in a one-person operation, flparfums.com.

Known for performances that “ripped the audience’s hearts out” (Opera News), Karen Slack is “…not only one of the nation's most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing and making spaces in classical music” (Trilloquy).

A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack is a sought-after collaborator, curator, and artistic advisor known for her fiery charisma and ground-breaking approach to engagement. She is an Artistic Advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra and Astral Artists, and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada.

Slack debuted the role of Billie in the 2019 world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones and made her film debut portraying the Opera Diva in Tyler Perry’s movie and soundtrack For Colored Girls.

Highlights of Slack’s 2023-2024 season include her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic, performing Beethoven’s Ah, Perfido! Op. 65 at David Geffen Hall, and her debut as a guest artist with Chamber Music Detroit, where she will give masterclasses and headline two programs: performing as a soloist in Of Thee I Sing, curated by Slack as a call for racial justice and an appeal to the healing power of love, and appearing alongside the Pacifica Quartet in works by Beethoven, Price, and James Lee III – whose featured work, A Double Standard, was commissioned for Slack and the Quartet by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Detroit, and Shriver Concert Series. In conjunction with Sparks and Wiry Cries, she performs in two productions of Songs in Flight, composer Shawn Okpebholo’s program exploring the stories of enslaved people who fled captivity, and she returns to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for selections from the Great American Songbook. Slack returns to Bogotá, Colombia, for a recital at the Festival Internacional de Música Sacra Bogotá and continues her deep collaboration with the Pacifica Quartet later this season with performances presented by Denver Friends of Chamber Music.

In addition to her appearances on orchestral, chamber music, and recital stages this season, Slack embarks upon an ambitious new recording project in collaboration with ONEComposer and pianist Michelle Cann, to be released later this season on Azica Records. In August 2024, Slack unveils her new commissioning project African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs celebrating the history and legacy of seven African queens, revered as rulers but not widely heralded in the western world. The program weaves this historical narrative through new works by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson along with carefully selected traditional repertoire – further illuminated through passages of spoken text and thematic artwork.

Over recent seasons, Slack has amassed a body of work reflecting her dedication to premiering works by living composers, with particular focus on using her platform to elevate works by Black artists. During the 2022-2023 season, she premiered Songs in Flight at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and appeared in two separate world premieres by Hannibal Lokumbe, performing as a soloist with the Nashville Symphony (The Jonah People) and Oklahoma City Philharmonic (Trials, Tears, Transcendence: The Journey of Clara Luper). She premiered Jasmine Barnes’ Songs of Paul, a tribute to Paul Robeson, with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and was featured soloist in the premiere of Damien Geter’s Justice Symphony with the Fresno Symphony and The Washington Chorus. Slack made her Houston Grand Opera debut in the world premiere of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney's A Snowy Day and, in January 2022, was appointed creative partner with Brooklyn’s National Sawdust.

When the pandemic limited live performances during the 2020-2021 season, Slack made premiere digital performances with Houston Grand Opera, Madison Opera, and Minnesota Opera. She also starred in a new production of the opera Driving While Black, presented by UrbanArias, and launched a digital talk show, #kikikonversations, drawing acclaim from Opera News and The New York Times. She co-created and performed in #saytheirnames – Women of the Movement, a film recital and production in partnership with Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, performed in recital for Opera Philadelphia. Appearing alongside actor/narrator Liev Schreiber, she was featured in Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Speaking Truth to Power program, hosted by livestream platform Idagio.

Slack recently appeared in the role of Freia in Das Rheingold with the Dallas Opera and sang the title role in Aïda at Opera Carolina. She has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Austin Opera, New Orleans Opera, Minnesota Opera, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Sacramento Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Madison Opera, and Arizona Opera, among others.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Slack has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Strauss’s Vier Letzte Lieder, and the Verdi Requiem with various orchestras throughout the United States. She was featured in her first performances of Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et la mer with the Omaha Symphony in collaboration with Opera Omaha. Abroad, she has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in celebration of the 80th birthday of conductor Yuri Temirkanov. Slack made her Carnegie Hall debut as Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She performed as a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Union Symphony Orchestra for Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder.

A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, as well as the Adler Fellowship and the Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera. She is the winner of numerous competitions and awards – most notably the Montserrat Caballé International Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, George London Foundation Award, Marian Anderson ICON Award, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, Portland Opera Lieber Award, Liederkranz Foundation Award, and the Jose Iturbi International Competition for Voice. For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com

When he swept the board of top prizes at the Seattle International Wagner Competition, a spotlight immediately shone on Issachah Savage. Since then, he has firmly established himself as one of today’s most impressive young heldentenors, making recently acclaimed debuts as Siegmund in Die Walküre with Opéra National de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel, as Froh in Das Rheingold with Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, as Tӓnnhauser at Los Angeles Opera, conducted by James Conlon and as Bacchus in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at both Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse under Evan Rogister, and at Seattle Opera under Lawrence Renes.

Other operatic milestones of Issachah Savage’s past seasons include his debut as Radames in Verdi’s Aida at Houston Grand Opera, a role he further performed at Austin Lyric Opera under the baton of Antonino Fogliani, with Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood under Jacques Lacombe and at the Aspen Music Festival under conductor Robert Spano having previously appeared as the Messenger in the same piece with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. He made his debut at Metropolitan Opera as Don Riccardo in Verdi’s Ernani under James Levine, returning in the 2022-23 season as Gran Sacerdote di Nettuno in Idomeneo under Manfred Honeck, a role he previously performed in Peter Sellars’ acclaimed staging at the 2019 Salzburg Festival, conducted by Teodore Currentzis. Issachah Savage made his Los Angeles Opera debut as Narraboth in Salome, his debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Curtis Toler in Daniel Bernard Roumain’s The Walkers, part of the world premiere tetralogy Proximity, he appeared as Siegmund under Music Director Johannes Debus at Canadian Opera Company, performed the title role in Wagner’s lesser-known Rienzi with National Philharmonic at Strathmore, and performed alongside Elina Garanča in Massenet’s La Navarraise with Opera Orchestra of New York.

Formerly a member of San Francisco’s prestigious Merola Opera Program, Savage’s final act performance of Verdi’s Otello there inspired the San Francisco Chronicle to write,“...from his opening notes — impeccably shaded and coiled with repressed fury — to the opera’s final explosion of grief and shame, Savage sang with a combination of power and finesse that is rare to observe,” going on to sing the full role in concert with Marco Parisotto conducting Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco and in production with Austin Lyric Opera.

In the upcoming 2023-24 season, Issachah Savage returns to Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse in his debut as Kaiser in Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten under Frank Beermann, sings Narraboth in concert performances of Salome with Houston Symphony Orchestra under Juraj Valčuha, joins Sebastian Weigle and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, sings Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Chicago Symphony Orchestra under James Conlon and debuts with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Nathalie Stutzmann in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem.

Strongly in demand for the concert platform, Issachah Savage has performed Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 with many major orchestras and conductors including Gustavo Dudamel and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Xian Zhang and San Francisco Symphony, Gianandreas Noseda and National Symphony Orchestra, Jaap van Zweden and New York Philharmonic, Fabio Luisi and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Gimeno and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Riccardo Muti and Chicago Symphony Orchestra among others. In Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, he has appeared with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Master Chorale, and he sang Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde firstly with Omaha Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently under Paul Daniel and l’Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine. Savage joined Fabio Luisi and Danish National Symphony Orchestra in performances of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and appeared with Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Other orchestral performances for dramatic tenor include the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise with Kurt Masur and New York Philharmonic, the world premiere of Leslie Savoy Burr’s Egypt’s Night with Philadelphia’s Opera North, Gershwin’s Blue Monday with Marin Alsop and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars with Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

In addition to his great competition success in Seattle, Issachah Savage has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition, and career grants from institutions including the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC, and Northern California, Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation, Olga Forrai and Gerda Lissner Foundations and he was honored in the early stages of his career development as the first ever scholar artist of the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia.