Biography

Fabien Gabel has been Music Director of Orchestre Symphonique de Québec (OSQ) since 2012 and Music Director of Orchestre Français des Jeunes since 2017.

Born in Paris into a family of accomplished musicians, Mr. Gabel began studying trumpet at the age of six, honing his skills at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris where he won first prize in trumpet in 1996. He went on to play in several Parisian orchestras. In 2002, he pursued his interest in conducting at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, where he studied with David Zinman. He also worked as an assistant to Bernard Haitink and Colin Davis. In 2004, Mr. Gabel won the Donatella Flick Competition in London, which led to his appointment as the London Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor for two seasons. Since then, he has returned frequently to the orchestra as a guest conductor.                

Mr. Gabel’s 2019–20 season features debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Vienna Radio Symphony, and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra. In his eighth season as Music Director of OSQ, Mr. Gabel leads the orchestra in works by Chausson, Ravel, Duparc, Dutilleux, Aubert, Schmitt, Richard Dubugnon, Rebel, Tomasi, and Poulenc, and collaborations with leading soloists including Augustin Hadelich, Juho Pohjonen, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Michael Barenboim, Ana María Martínez, and Philippe Jaroussky, among others. He also makes return engagements with the Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

Mr. Gabel has conducted top orchestras including the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Cleveland Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, National Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Warsaw Philharmonic, Melbourne Symphony, Tasmania Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National d'Île-de-France, and the Danish National Symphony.

He has worked with some of the world’s leading soloists including Emanuel Ax, Seong-Jin Cho, Gidon Kremer, Christian Tetzlaff, Alina Pogostkina, Julian Steckel, Johannes Moser, Antonio Meneses, Marc-André Hamelin, Beatrice Rana, Gautier Capuçon, Simone Lamsma, Xavier de Maistre, and Bertrand Chamayou, and singers such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Michael Schade, Petra Lang, Jennifer Larmore, Measha Brueggergosman, Danielle de Niese, Natalie Dessay, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux.