This month in Salt Lake City, Thierry and the Utah Symphony are joined by pianist Boris Giltburg for two concerts of Shostakovich at Abravanel Hall on 27 and 28 April. The concerts open with Giltburg performing the composer’s First and Second Piano Concertos, followed by his 10th Symphony.

Elsewhere this month, Thierry returns to the Seoul Philharmonic for two concerts in their Ars Nova contemporary music series. He conducts regular collaborator Håkan Hardenberger in a programme that features works by Haydn, Ives, Zimmermann, Beethoven and Richard Strauss.

Thierry returns to the UK this month for two concerts with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on 14 and 15 March. The concerts take place at the Lighthouse in Poole and Exeter’s Great Hall and feature pianist Stephen Hough. Hough performed with Thierry and the Utah Symphony in January and opens the concerts with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1. Thierry follows the concerto with Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question and Brahms’ Symphony No.1.

In Utah this month, Thierry conducts two concerts celebrating the life of Leonard Bernstein with the Utah Symphony. They are joined for the concerts by the Utah Symphony Chorus and University of Utah Choirs under chorus director Barlow Bradford. Thierry leads a programme of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Divertimento as well as Saint-Saëns’ Symphony in A Major, written when the composer was just 15 years old, and Stravinsky’s most religious utterance, the Symphony of Psalms.

Last month Thierry conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a series of thrilling concerts on the West Coast of the USA, finishing up at the Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. They were joined by star soloists Gautier Capuçon and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

“Fischer went all out in both with vast extremes in dynamics and knock-’em-dead dramatic effects… a bigger-than-life account “
Los Angeles Times

“Limpid, fluid orchestral textures”
San Francisco Chronicle

“Thierry Fischer conducted with precision and élan”
San Francisco Classical Voice

“This is a conductor whose top priority is getting the most out of his musicians, bringing their contributions to the center of attention, rather than dwelling on his own ‘leadership’”
The Rehearsal Studio

“A scintillating rendition…outstanding attention to detail, and especially to dynamics… beautifully rendered”
Berkeley Daily Planet

Thierry returns to the Seoul Philharmonic this month for two concerts with the orchestra at Seoul’s Lotte Concert Hall on 9 and 10 February. Joining him for the performances is French violinist Renaud Capuçon, soloist for Dutilleux’s violin concerto, L’arbre des songes. The concerto is part of a pan-European programme that also features Berlioz’s “Queen Mab” scherzo from Romeo et Juliet, Repighi’s Pini di Roma and Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

In Utah this month, Thierry and the Utah Symphony continue their Saint-Saëns cycle in two concerts at Abravanel Hall on 23 and 24 February. Thierry conducts the French composer’s Danse macabre and Symphony No.1, which will be recorded for Hyperion. In a nod to Leonard Bernstein’s 100th anniversary, Thierry also conducts the composer’s Symphony No.2 ‘The Age of Anxiety’ with piano soloist Conrad Tao.

Thierry has just completed a Californian tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists Gautier Capuçon and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The tour visited venues across the state including Davies Hall in San Francisco and was met with great acclaim:

“Fischer went all out in both with vast extremes in dynamics and knock-’em-dead dramatic effects…The playing was on the highest quality I’d heard from it in years…Fischer has a flair for contrasts”
LA Times, January 2018

“…a scintillating rendition…… outstanding attention to detail, and especially to dynamics… beautifully rendered”
Berkeley Daily Planet, February 2018

Thierry steps in this month to lead the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on its six-concert tour of the United States. The tour visits major halls in California, including the Davis Symphony Hall in San Francisco on 28 January. Thierry and the orchestra are joined for the tour by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and cellist Gautier Capuçon, who perform Liszt Piano Concerto No.2 and Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C. Other pieces on the programme for the tour include Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Firebird ballets, both of which Thierry recorded for Signum Records in 2011 while he was Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Theirry’s latest recording, of Mahler Symphony No.8 with the Utah Symphony and Mormon Tabernacle Choir, continues to attract much praise, notably in January’s edition of Gramophone Magazine:

“Fischer is clearly a Mahlerian to contend with, full of ideas and the wherewithal to execute them…The orchestra have never sounded better…Tensions build and subside, colours darken and reignite, but above all a giant arc spans…a rare coherence and shapely splendour…This Mahler Eighth may not replace your favourite, be it by Horenstein or Stokowski, Bernstein or Solti, Sinopoli or Abbado, but it will surely complement any of them in its grand trajectory, intelligence, clarity and beautiful sound.”

Thierry begins the new year with the Utah Symphony, conducting three concerts with the orchestra on 4, 5 and 6 January. The concerts open with Haydn’s Symphony No.8, continuing the orchestra’s multi-season study of the composer’s early works, before Thierry conducts two works by Dvorák. Firstly, he leads the orchestra in extracts from Dvorák’s Slavonic Dances, which made the composer’s name in 1878, before violinist Hilary Hahn joins them to perform Dvorák’s Violin Concerto.

The following week, Thierry and the Utah Symphony are joined by pianist Stephen Hough for two more concerts at Abravanel Hall on 12 and 13 January. Hough performs Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2, part of an all-Russian programme that also includes Stravinsky’s Funeral Song and Firebird.

Thierry travels to Paris this month to make his debut with the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Opéra Comique on 23 and 24 November 2017. Fischer joins the ensemble to conduct a new production of Hans Zender’s renowned interpretation of Schubert Winterreise, The Dark Mirror, with Julian Prégardien in the tenor role.

Elsewhere this month, Fischer also returns to the Seoul Philharmonic for two Ars Nova concerts on 3 and 8 November, spanning three centuries of music. The first concert on 3 November includes Mahler’s Totenfeier, Berg’s Three Pieces for Orchestra and the Asian premiere of Anders Hillborg Violin Concerto No.2 with soloist Viviane Hagner, which was jointly commissioned by Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra.

Thierry’s latest release with the Utah Symphony, a recording of Mahler Symphony No.8 with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is released by Reference Recordings on 17 November. Known as the “Symphony for a Thousand”, the symphony is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical canon. It was the last of Mahler’s works to be premiered in the composer’s lifetime, in 1910 by the Munich Philharmonic. The album was recorded live in concert at the Salt Lake Tabernacle in February 2016, and is available to pre-order from Reference Recordings and Amazon.

The “Symphony of a Thousand” is the second Mahler symphony that Thierry has recorded with the Utah Symphony. In September 2015 they released their critically acclaimed recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.1 ‘Titan’, also on Reference Recordings:

“the orchestra can be proud of this performance, with its brisk tempos and transparency in recorded sound.  Winds are particularly expressive in the opening movement … Fischer’s scherzo sounds positively rustic … Brass snarls, percussion pounds and Mahler’s whiplash rhythms feel relentless … suitable to proudly carry the Mahler tradition forward in Utah.” - Washington Post

Thierry returns to the Bergen Philharmonic this month for two performances of Mozart Requiem on 5 and 6 October. He conducts a cast of soloists including Ann-Helen Moen, Kristina Hammarström, Thorbjørn Gulbrandsøy and Leon Kosavic. The second concert will be livestreamed through the Bergen Philharmonic’s digital concert hall.

The program also includes Swiss composer Arthur Honegger’s ‘Liturgique’ Symphony No.3, reflecting Thierry’s continued championing of contemporary music – this season he debuts with the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Opera Comique.

Thierry opened the Utah Symphony’s 40th Anniversary season last month with ‘An Evening with Renée Fleming’ – a fundraising gala supporting Utah Opera’s educational program – before leading the orchestra in a programme of Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss. He recently extended his contract as Music Director of the Utah Symphony Orchestra to 2022, and this Autumn sees the release of his recording of Mahler Symphony No.8 with the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.