Artists’ Profiles

Thierry Fischer

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Music Director

The Maurice Abravanel Chair, endowed by the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation

Thierry Fischer has been Music Director of the Utah Symphony since 2009, has held the same position with the São Paulo Symphony since 2020, and takes up his post as Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León in September 2022.

In recent seasons he has conducted orchestras across the globe, notably the Cleveland Orchestra—where he returns this autumn—also the Boston, Atlanta and Cincinnati Symphonies; London Philharmonic; Royal Philharmonic; Oslo Philharmonic; Rotterdam Philharmonic Maggio Musicale Firenze among others.

Fischer closes his tenure in Utah with Mahler’s all-embracing 3rd Symphony, featuring the women of the Tabernacle Choir. This follows on their recording together of Mahler’s 8th symphony (released in 2017 on Reference Records, after Mahler 1 in 2015 and a disc of newly commissioned works by American composers in 2015). In this farewell season he has also chosen to celebrate Messiaen’s music with a performance of Turangalîla and the release on Hyperion in 2023 of his Des canyons aux étoiles (directly inspired by the breathtaking landscape of Utah). After a transformative 14 years in Utah, including the orchestra’s visit to Carnegie Hall for the first time in 40 years, a Saint-Saëns cycle on Hyperion and many other highlights, Fischer becomes Music Director Emeritus in summer 2023.

While Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales 2006–2012, Fischer appeared every year at the BBC Proms, toured internationally, and recorded for Hyperion, Signum, and Orfeo. In 2012 he won the ICMA Award for his Hyperion recording of Frank Martin’s Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. His discography also includes a Beethoven disc with the London Philharmonic on the Aparté label.

Fischer started out as Principal Flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera. His conducting career began in his 30s when he replaced an ailing colleague, subsequently directing his first few concerts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe where he was Principal Flute under Claudio Abbado. He spent his apprentice years in Holland and became Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra 2001–2006. He was Principal Guest of the Seoul Philharmonic 2017–2020 and Chief Conductor (now Honorary Guest) of the Nagoya Philharmonic 2008–2011. Thierry Fischer is represented by Intermusica.

Stephen Hough

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Piano

Combining a uniquely insightful career as a pianist with those of composer and writer, Sir Stephen Hough has distinguished himself as a true polymath. The first classical pianist to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, his mastery of the instrument as well as an individual and inquisitive mind has earned him a multitude of other prestigious awards and a longstanding international following. In June 2022 he was given a knighthood for services to music in the Queen’s Birthday Honors List.

Highlights of Sir Stephen’s 2021–22 orchestral engagements include appearances with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, Orchestre National de Fance in Paris, Tonkunster Orchestra in Vienna, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, as well as with the Dallas, Atlanta, Utah and San Antonio symphonies. He is the BBC Philharmonic’s 2021-22 Artist in Residence and in Spring 2022, he returns to Asia to perform with the Singapore and National Taiwan symphonies as well as the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou symphony orchestras.

Sir Stephen Hough resides in London and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York.