Fabien Gabel is the Music Director Designate of the Tonkünstler-Orchester, a position which begins with the 2025/2026 season. He has established an international career of the highest calibre, appearing with orchestras such as Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. Praised for his dynamic style and sensitive approach to the score, Gabel is best known for his eclectic choice of repertoire, ranging from core symphonic works to new music to championing lesser-known composers of the 19th and the 20th centuries.

In 2024/2025, Gabel will return to Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Belgian National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestr,a and the Grafenegg Festival. Further, he will appear with Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra at the Tongyeong International Music Festival, and Aspen Festival Orchestra.

In France, Gabel works regularly with all major Paris orchestras and had a highly acclaimed debut at the Opéra national de Paris in 2022/23. Recent highlights include the recording of a new score for Abel Gance’s 1927 epic film ‘Napoléon’ with the Orchestre National de France and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. After 16 years of restoration work, the first periodpart of the film was presented at the 2024 Festival de Cannes and will be shown in theatres, on French television, and Netflix.

Fabien Gabel performs with soloists such as Daniil Trifonov, Yefim Bronfman, Emanuel Ax, Bertrand Chamayou, Francesco Piemontesi, Seong-Jin Cho, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Gidon Kremer, Augustin Hadelich, Vilde Frang, Daniel Lozakovich, Christian Tetzlaff, Gautier Capuçon, Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Håkan Hardenberger, and Emmanuel Pahud, and singers including Natalie Dessay, Petra Lang, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Nikola Hillebrand, Asmik Grigorian, and Michael Schade.

Having attracted international attention in 2004 as the winner of the Donatella Flick conducting competition, Fabien Gabel worked as Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2006. He was then music director of Orchestre symphonique de Québec (2012-2021) and Orchestre Français des Jeunes (2017-2021).

Born in Paris to a family of accomplished musicians, Gabel began playing the trumpet at the age of six and honed his skills at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse 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, Sir Simon Rattle and Bernard Haitink before embarking on his conducting career. Fabien Gabel was named ‘Chevaliers des Arts et des Lettres’ by the French government in January 2020.

SEASON 2024/2025