home > countertenor profiles > xavier sabata

In the course of the 2011/12 season, countertenor Xavier Sabata - an exclusive Parnassus artist - performed in seven countries around Europe, apperaing at 11 opera houses and at numerous festivals and renowned concert halls. He collaborated with nine top European orchestras, including the world-famous Orchestre des Arts Florissants, and took the stage at venues including the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the Opera Royal de Versailles, Basidche Staatstheatre Karlsruhe, Vienna Konzerthaus, Teatro Villamarta Valladolid and the Barcelona International Teatre.

Xavier Sabata was born in Avià in Catalonia and studied drama at Barcelona's Institute for Theatre, but went on to persue further artistic disciplines: saxophone at Barcelona Conservatory and singing and historical vocal practice at the Escola Superior de Musica Catalunya and at the conservatory of Karlsruhe, where his teachers were Hartmut Höll and Mitsuko Shirai. He also participated in masterclasses with Monserrat Figueras, Richard Leavit and Christoph Prégardien.

His continuing relatinoship with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants began with his participation in a production of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea in Lyon. This led to an invitation to appear in Les Arts Florissants' spectacular and much-praised production of Landi's Il Sant'Alessio and he also went on to sing Iarba in Cavalli's La Didone under Christie's direction.

Xavier Sabata appears regularly with other leading ensembles, including Europa Galante, Collegium 1704, Venice Baroque Orchestra, I Barocchisti, Al Ayre Español, El Concierto Español and Orquesta Barroca Sevilla, and collaborates with conductors such as Fabio Bondi, René Jacobs, Jordi Savall, Alan Curtis, Gabriel Garrido, Fabio Bonizzoni, Diego Fasiolis, Andrea Marcon, Xavier Dìaz Latorre, Ivor Bolton, George Petrou, Riccardo Minasi, Harry Bicket and Christopher Moulds.

He is a frequent guest at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Bozar in Brussels, Madrid's Teatro real, the Liceu and Palau de la música Catalan in Barcelona, La Fenice in Venice, the Krakow Opera (for the Opera Rara Series), Opéra de Lausanne, Grand Théâtre in Geneva, Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and at the leading halls in London and New York.

His festival appearances meanwhile have included the Innsbruck Festival für Alte Musik, with René Jacobs conducting, Aix-en-Provence (Dido and Aeneas and singing madrigals). Ambronay, Handel Festival Halle and the Festival Via Stellae in Santiago de Compostela.

Xavier Sabata's recording projects in 2012/13 include two new operatic releases: Vivaldi's L'Oracolo on Messenia (Virgin Classics/EMI) in which he sings the role of Anassandro, and Handel's Alessandro (DECCA) in which he sings Tassile. He is also due to record two solo recitals: Milano, with the Ensemble Atalanta Fugiens, for Sony, and Bad Guys fro the Aparté label. His catalogue already includes a number of recordings for labels such as Winter&Winter, Harmonia Mundi Iberica and Virgin Classics/EMI (including Gernando in Handel's Faramondo).

The 2012/13 season will also see Xavier Sabata performing as an actor, appearing in plays and musical theatre woth a number of renowned Spanish companies, including, inBarcelona, the Teatre Lliure and Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. He will also make appearances in several TV series.

On the operatic stage he will both appear in signature roles and make further important debuts. He will be Ottone in Handel's Agrippina in Oviedo and Endimione (La Calisto), Unulfo (Polifemo), and Tassile (Alessandro) at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Tassile will also take him to Versailles, Athens, Halle (Handel Festival), Bucharest (Enescu Festival), the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In Freiburg he will take the title role in Handel's Rinaldo and participate in a new production of Calderón's El Gran Teatro del mundo (The Great Theatre of the World).

His solo programme Bad Guys will be presented in Caen, Freiburg, Seville and Barcelona and he will again team up with Max Emanuel Cencic, Yuriy Mynenko and Franco Fagioli for The Gala Night of Countertenors, a programme that created a sensation in Potsdam, Versailles, Karlsruhe and Hamburg.

© Xavier Sabata

Articles, Reviews & Websites

Discography

YouTube Videos