Musicians
Mirroring Dallas’s cosmopolitan landscape, the musicians of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra have come from around the globe to make exceptional music here. Meet the artists who help the DSO achieve its international acclaim.
Fabio Luisi
GRAMMY® Award winning Italian conductor Fabio Luisi is set to embark on his sixth season as Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, his ninth as Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, and his fourth as Principal Conductor of Tokyo’s NHK Orchestra. Also serving as Music Director of Puglia’s Festival della Valle d’Itria and Emeritus Conductor of Turin’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Luisi has previously held key positions at orchestras and opera houses including the Dresden Staatskapelle, Vienna Symphony, Zurich Opera, and Metropolitan Opera in New York.
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Shira Samuels-Shragg
In the 2025/26 season, Shira Samuels-Shragg enters her second year as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In this role she leads the orchestra in community-focused concerts, serves as assistant and cover conductor for Music Director Fabio Luisi and guest artists, and presents the Performance Preludes: educational and engaging lectures that precede each classical concert. Samuels-Shragg was recently awarded the prestigious Neeme Järvi Prize at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival in Switzerland, an honor that comes with an invitation to conduct the Sinfoonieorchester Basel.
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Jeff Tyzik
GRAMMY® Award winner Jeff Tyzik is one of America’s most innovative and sought after pops conductors. Tyzik is recognized for his brilliant arrangements, original programming and engaging rapport with audiences of all ages. This is the eleventh season that Tyzik has held The Dot and Paul Mason Principal Pops Conductor’s Podium at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as Principal Pops Conductor of both the Detroit Symphony and the Oregon Symphony. The 2023/24 season will mark Tyzik’s 30th season as Principal Pops Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Tyzik made his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in July 2022 at the Blossom Festival and will conduct the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 23/24 season.
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Enrico Lopez-Yañez
Enrico Lopez-Yañez is redefining what it means to be a conductor in the 21st Century.
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Anthony Blake Clark
Dallas Symphony Chorus Director Anthony Blake Clark (Jean D. Wilson Chair) is a leading voice among his generation of choral conductors. He is in demand by both amateur and professional choral artists because of his “readily apparent musicality” (Baltimore Sun), and his conviction that lives can be changed by participating in classical music, whether on the stage or in the audience.
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Sophia Jani
Sophia Jani is a German composer of contemporary classical music who takes a poetically minimalist approach to composition. Her music has recently been performed by the New Jersey Symphony, the Munich Symphony, Bang on a Can, musicians of the Dallas Symphony, the Goldmund Quartet, vocal sextet Sjaella, pianist Eunbi Kim and the Dandelion Quintet, among others. Performance venues include the Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCa, as well as The Green Space. She has also contributed music to successful film, theater, dance and album projects.
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Vacant
Though currently vacant, the Principal Guest Conductor has been recently held by Gemma New (2019-2023) and Claus Peter Flor (1999-2008).
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