Trained in composition at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and in conducting with Peter Eötvös, his music—‘full of ideas, intense and bursting with energy’ (Stockhausen)—is performed by ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet and Ensemble Modern, and orchestras including the Spanish National Orchestra/OCNE, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, SWR Baden-Baden Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, RTVE Orchestra, and Tonkünstler Orchestra. In recent years, he has premiered his operas Le Malentendu and Les Rois Mages in cities such as Vienna, Nice, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, and Madrid, and Die Judith von Shimoda, commissioned by the Bregenz Festival, which was nominated for Best Premiere of 2024 by the Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis.

This season, he has premiered his Horn Concerto (Radovan Vlatković, Erik Nielsen, RTVE), Seven Japanese Sketches (Raúl Ortega, Amaryllis Quartett), L’âge de la raison (Paolo Corrado, Syntax, Milano), and Written in Blue (Mario Blanco, Zsolt Nagy, Sinfonietta ESMRS). Fabián Panisello is the composer-in-residence at the Grafenegg Festival 2025.

His works are published by Edition Peters.