Thierry Fischer Triumphs Conducting European Orchestras Following Carnegie Hall Appearance

Thierry Fischer Triumphs Conducting European Orchestras Following Carnegie Hall Appearance

“Ranking symphony orchestras is ultimately a useless little parlor game, but it can be difficult to resist, especially when a concert as breathtaking as the Utah Symphony’s recent visit to Carnegie Hall prompts a mental rearrangement of the scoreboard of modern American orchestras…Thierry Fischer and his Salt Lake City band gave a performance as transporting as anything America’s more widely acknowledged cultural capitals have to offer.” 
                                                                                                                                                — Musical America                        ___________________________________________

Following the Utah Symphony’s celebrated return to New York’s Carnegie Hall after more than 40 years, for which The New York Times remarked, “The inspired players excelled in an ambitious program… [with] exciting, colorful and fervent performances,” music director Thierry Fischer crossed the Atlantic to guest conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on a six-city tour and make his debut with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino leading the orchestra and choir in a program featuring works by Brahms and Mozart.

Prior to making his debut in Italy, Mr. Fischer led the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on tour with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja at Tonhalle Zürich and in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Bergamo, Brescia and Bologna. The concert in Zürich was hailed by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as “a triumph for soloist, orchestra and conductor.” The review continued, “…in Beethoven [Symphony No.] 7 the Chamber Orchestra of Europe showed itself to be mercurial and willing to take risks. Thierry Fischer revealed every facet of the work’s dance-like elements, heightening the tension to obsession by the end of the work.”

Additionally, Classic Toulouse wrote, “Under the precise and motivating baton of Thierry Fischer, the ensemble’s cohesion and rich colours reached the highest possible level… he got the musicians to play with lean vibrato, leaping rhythms, rich and subtle phrasing and dynamic tempi…what a sumptuous orchestra!”

With this Chamber Orchestra of Europe tour, Thierry Fischer comes full circle. His conducting career was launched in his 30’s when he stepped in to conduct his first-ever public concerts with the orchestra where he was, at the time, Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado. For more information visit www.ThierryFischer.com.

Dawn to Dust: Thomas, Muhly and Norman

“Each piece is a unique, virtuosic essay for the ensemble, and Thierry Fischer leads his players with confidence through a daunting program, captured in stunning sound.”                                                                      — ConcertoNet

“…this disc does stand among the most impressively-played and -recorded orchestral new music albums of the last several years – a remarkable fact, given the quality and pedigree of the competition. Clearly, there’s something special going on in Salt Lake City these days.”                                                                                            — ArtsFuse

Dawn to Dust, the latest recording from the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer on Reference Recordings, features live performances of orchestral works from three leading American composers: Augusta Read Thomas, Nico Muhly, and Andrew Norman. The recording exemplifies Thierry Fischer’s ongoing commitment to commissioning music from today’s leading generations of composers both established and new voices.

Featuring the works EOS (Goddess of the Dawn), a Ballet for Orchestra by Augusta Read Thomas, Control (Five Landscapes for Orchestra) by Nico Muhly; and Switch, a percussion concerto by Andrew Norman with soloist Colin Currie, the recording is available from iTunes, Amazon, and other music retailers.

Next up from the Utah Symphony and Mr. Fischer is a second Mahler recording featuring the composer’s powerful Symphony No. 8, “Symphony of a Thousand,” with renowned guest vocalists comprising sopranos Orla Boylan, Celena Shafer and Amy Owens, mezzo-sopranos Charlotte Hellekant and Tamara Mumford, tenor Barry Banks, baritone Markus Werba, and bass Jordan Bisch, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and choristers from The Madeleine Choir School, recorded live in the Salt Lake City’s Mormon Tabernacle, to be released by Reference Recordings in 2017.

Utah Symphony’s 75th Anniversary Season Concludes with Mahler’s Symphony No. 9

Thierry Fischer brings to a close his two-season cycle of Mahler’s complete symphonies during the final concerts of the Utah Symphony’s banner 75th Anniversary season. For his final performances of the 2015-16 season, Mr. Fisher leads the orchestra in Mahler’s epic final orchestral work, Symphony No. 9, on May 27 and 28 at Abravanel Hall.

Mr. Fischer’s Mahler cycle honors former Utah Symphony Music Director Maurice Abravanel, under whose baton the Utah Symphony became the first American symphony to record all of Mahler’s symphonic works, including the Adagio of the unfinished Tenth Symphony, on the Vanguard label.

Additional highlights of the Utah Symphony’s 75th anniversary season have included a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle, world premieres of commissions by Nico Muhly and Andrew Norman, collaborations with Utah Opera, Ballet West, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Madeleine Choir School and a tour to New York with a concert at Carnegie Hall.