Fabián Panisello (Argentina/Spain, 1963) is internationally recognised for his work as a composer, conductor, and educator, maintaining the highest standards across all three fields. A leading figure in 20th- and 21st-century music, he is also a passionate advocate for emerging composers. In the words of Karlheinz Stockhausen: ‘full of ideas, intense and bursting with energy (…) I am very happy to see that the spirit of Webern continues to live in a changed world.’

From 1996 to 2019, he served as Academic Director and Dean of the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía, where he continues to teach Composition.

He is also a guest professor at leading institutions worldwide, including the Royal Academy of Music (London), China Conservatory, University of Shanghai, Jerusalem Academy, Eötvös Foundation, University of Bogotá, Centro Nacional de las Artes/Facultad Superior de Música (Mexico), UC Davis (California, USA), University of Zagreb Academy of Music, Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory, Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, Kunstuniversität Graz, and the Cátedra Manuel de Falla, among others.

Panisello studied composition with Francisco Kröpfl in Buenos Aires and Bogusław Schaeffer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg (Diploma of Excellence, 1993). He later trained in conducting with Peter Eötvös and enriched his education through collaborations with notable 20th-century composers including Elliott Carter, Franco Donatoni, Brian Ferneyhough, and Luis de Pablo. His music—praised by Stockhausen as ‘full of ideas, intense and bursting with energy’—is characterised by its dynamism, lyricism, dramatic power, harmonic finesse, and emotional depth. These qualities have earned him numerous accolades, including the Premio del Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Buenos Aires), the Würdigungspreis from the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Mozarts Erben (Salzburg), and the Premio Iberoamericano de Composición Rodolfo Halffter (Mexico). He has also received grants from the BBVA Foundation (Leonardo Grant), Fundación Antorchas in Buenos Aires, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (General Directorate of Cultural and Scientific Relations Grant), and the Mozarteum Salzburg (Rector’s Grant). He is a member of the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes of Argentina.

Recognized and supported internationally by Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, and Peter Eötvös, he has collaborated with ensembles and orchestras such as the SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Spanish National Orchestra (OCNE), RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Arditti Quartet, and EXAUDI.

He has worked with distinguished soloists including Marco Blaauw, Allison Bell, Francesco D’Orazio, Hilary Summers, and Dimitri Vassilakis, and with conductors such as Susanna Mälkki, Pierre Boulez, Erik Nielsen, and Zsolt Nagy. He also contributed to the world premieres of two works by Stockhausen with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

In recent years, Panisello has focused extensively on opera, drawing praise for what Peter Eötvös has described as ‘a very special talent for the stage that creates exciting theater with magnificent music.’ His vocal writing, marked by a keen sensitivity to the melodic qualities of language and the dramatic role of harmony, creates a unique synthesis of tradition and contemporary theatrical expression.

In 2016, he premiered Le Malentendu, based on the play by Albert Camus with a libretto by Juan Lucas. Funded by a 2015 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, the opera was co-produced by Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Warsaw Autumn Festival, Neue Oper Wien, Teatros del Canal, and Teatro Real (Madrid), and received critical acclaim: ‘we are surely in the presence of the best premiere of new opera in the Teatro Real in a long time’ (Tomás Marco, Scherzo).

His 2018 work Les Rois Mages, a multimedia musical theatre piece with a libretto by Gilles Rico based on Michel Tournier’s novel, combines intimacy and dramatic intensity. Commissioned by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation through the Centro Superior de Investigación y Promoción de la Música and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Foundation, it premiered in January 2019 to enthusiastic reception and has since been staged in Nice, Tel Aviv, Munich, Vienna, Berlin, and other cities.

His most recent dramatic work, Die Judith von Shimoda, is based on Brecht and Wuolijoki’s adaptation of Yamamoto Yūzō’s Nyonin Aishi. Akichi Monogatari, with a libretto by Juan Lucas. Commissioned by the Bregenz Festival 2023 in co-production with Vienna, it was highly anticipated and received critical acclaim: ‘the piece itself, that is, the original Japanese one, is transformed into a masterpiece of conversation with high emotional content’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung). The work was nominated for Best World Premiere of 2024 by the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis.

As a conductor, Panisello is deeply committed to the performance of 20th- and 21st-century music, especially through PluralEnsemble, which he founded and continues to direct. With them, he has premiered and championed works by many leading international composers and supported emerging artists through commissions and international tours. The ensemble has recorded for labels including Neos, col legno, Cypres, Verso, IBS Classical, and Columna Música.

He has appeared as both composer and conductor at major contemporary music festivals such as Wien Modern, Munich Biennale, Présences, Ars Musica, Ultraschall, Aspekte, Manca, Klangspuren Schwaz, and more recently at the Sound Ways Festival (Saint Petersburg), New Music Week Festival (Shanghai), Festival Manca (Nice), Bridges Festival (Vienna Konzerthaus), and the China-ASEAN Music Festival.

In the 2023–2024 season, he conducted tributes to Peter Eötvös on the occasion of his 80th birthday (Concerto Budapest Orchestra, Neue Vokalsolisten), and led ensembles including Riot (London), United Berlin, and Turning Point (Vancouver). In 2024–2025, he conducts the Israel Contemporary Players, Cantus Ensemble (Croatia), and makes his debut with the Tonkünstler Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Basque National Orchestra, and the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary).

Recent premieres include Horn Concerto (Vlatković, Nielsen, ORTVE), Seven Japanese Sketches (Ortega, Amaryllis Quartett), L’âge de la raison (Corrado, Syntax Ensemble, Milan), and Written in Blue (Blanco, Nagy, Sinfonietta ESMRS). He is composer-in-residence at the Grafenegg Festival 2025.

His works are published by Edition Peters.