home > countertenor profiles > matteo el khodrSince he was a little boy, Matteo has always been attracted by things that weren't interesting for other boys of his age: theatre, drama, old black and white movies, old books of his grandparent's library, old discs of old Egyptian singers and divas, and classical music and opera. Seeing this attraction to arts, his parents always backed him up. He was taught to play piano during years, and started imitating voices he was hearing: Carmen from Bizet, Violetta from La Traviata (Verdi), Leonora from La Forza del destino (Verdi), Il Barbier di Siviglia (Rossini), slept listening to Magnificat (Bach) and woke up on the Requiem (Mozart) and the Gloria (Vivaldi).
When he turned 17, he was singing with this same child voice, this same thin voice who was becoming more and more deep, round, mature. He didn't know it but he became a countertenor, a rare male voice, a heritage from the castrati voices from the 17th century in Italy! Due to luck, coincidences, and fate, Matteo found himself at age 18 signing a huge contract with Universal Music France and moved there to learn music, to become an opera singer, to travel and sing on the biggest stages of Europe. He released his first album "Matteo Haute-Contre", a "Thank You" album to all the inspirations who led him to fulfill his destiny: Bach, Bellini, Vivaldi, Purcell, Verdi... After a big tour in Europe, singing for the Communauté Européene de Bruxelles, to the Queen of Belgium, to Vienna, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Paris, London, Verona...and Lebanon (Festival de Beiteddine), and several masterclasses with Andreas Scholl, Robert Expert, Fabrice di Falco, Matteo entered the Ecole Normale Superieure de Musique in the class of Agnes Mellon, soprano of Les Arts Florissants (William Christie) and wife of Dominique Visse, famous french countertenor, in the department of the vocal perfection: baroque era and composers. In September 2011, Matteo integrated the Choeur de l'Orchestre de Paris (Solo Alto-countertenor) and is scheduled to perform in Salle Pleyel all year long: Gloria (Poulenc), Daphnis et Chloé (Ravel), Peer Gynt (Grieg) and solo masterpieces of oratorios: Semele (Haendel), Juditha Triumphans (Vivaldi) under the direction of the composers: Daniel Baremboim, Paavo Jarvi, James Colon, Ricardo Chailly. In Christmas, he did the final concerts in two sacred festivals, the Festival of Saint-Chapelle in Paris and the Beirut Chants Festival of Sacred music. In 2012 invited to sing in Munich's Gasteig Carl-Orff hall, and won the public price in the famous Concours International de Chant Baroque de Froville, then is Mandane in the production of Artaserse by Leonardo Vinci, with Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic, Franco Fagioli under the direction of M.Diego Fasolis and Concerto Koln in l'Opera National de Lorraine (Nancy, France). In 2014 and 2015, Matteo has the title role of Hyacintus in Mozart's first opera: Apollo Und Hyacintus with les Folies Francoises in La Cité de La Musique in Paris. © Matteo El Khodr
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