Vienna's Tonkünstler Orchestra Appoints New Chief Conductor

French conductor Fabien Gabel will succeed Yutaka Sado in 2025

The French conductor Fabien Gabel will step into the role of Chief Conductor of Vienna's Tonkünstler Orchestra at the opening of the 2025/26 season for an initial term of four years. He will succeed outgoing conductor Yutaka Sado, who has held the position since 2015.

Gabel will direct five mainstage concerts each season, as well as leading subscription concerts in Vienna and Lower Austria. In addition, he will help to run the orchestra's education and outreach programs.

A native of Paris, Fabien Gabel studied the trumpet at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, and then spent time performing with a range of Parisian orchestras.

His conducting career began when he won the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition in 2004, and he then served as Assistant Conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra between 2004 and 2006. Gabel has also been Music Director of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Orchestre Français des Jeunes.

"In securing the services of Fabien Gabel we have gained a Music Director who will ensure the further artistic development of the Tonkünstler Orchestra," said Frank Druschel, the orchestra's Executive Director. "With him we will not only uphold our standard repertoire but also develop new focuses in our programming."

"Austrian music culture, its traditions and its avant-garde, were an essential influence on me as a young trumpeter and are a great source of inspiration for me in my work as a conductor," Gabel said.

"[My 2019 Tonkünstler debut] was the first time I felt that the chemistry was right," he added. "The orchestra gave me exactly the sound I wanted to have for this piece [Korngold's Sinfonietta]."