Biography

Thierry Fischer has served as Music Director of the Utah Symphony since 2009 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Seoul Philharmonic since January 2017. He started out as principal flute in Hamburg and at the Zurich Opera. His conducting career began in his thirties when he directed 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 from 2001 to 2006. He was chief conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic from 2008 to 2011, and now serves that orchestra as Honorary Guest Conductor. Mr. Fischer served as principal conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from 2006 to 2012.

Highlights of his tenure in Utah include a multi-season Haydn symphony cycle; Mahler, Beethoven, and Nielsen cycles; and a tour of Utah’s five national parks. In celebration of its 75th anniversary season in 2016, the orchestra appeared at Carnegie Hall and released an album of newly commissioned works by Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman, and Augusta Read Thomas on Reference Recordings. Following a disc of Mahler’s First Symphony, they recently released a recording of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Mr. Fischer has guest conducted with many leading orchestras, most recently the Boston, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Detroit symphonies and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra (New York) in the US, and the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Firenze, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romandein Europe. In 2016 he visited South America for the first time to conduct the São Paulo Philharmonic. In recent seasons he has also conducted the Scottish, Swedish, and Munich chamber orchestras, London Sinfonietta, and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. This season he conducts the Ensemble Intercontemporain for the first time. These performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra mark his first appearance under San Francisco Symphony auspices.

Mr. Fischer has made many recordings, including works of Honegger, d’Indy, and Florent Schmitt for the Hyperion label and Stravinsky for Signum and Orfeo. His Hyperion recording of Frank Martin’s opera Der Sturm with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Chorus won the International Classical Music Award in 2012 (opera category). In 2014 he released a Beethoven disc with the London Philharmonic on the Aparte label. 

(January 2018)