Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata trained as an actor at Barcelona’s Institut del Teatre before studying singing at the Escola Superior de Musica Catalunya and at the Musikhochschule, Karlsruhe.
Opera productions have led him to the most distinguished opera houses worldwide including Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Wiener Staatsoper, Theater an der Wien, Oper Frankfurt, Opera de Lyon, Teatro La Fenice in Venice and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
On the opera stage this season Xavier takes on the title roles in Handel’s Orlando for Oper Köln, Giulio Cesare for the Liceu, Barcelona and various roles in a new production titled I Grotteschi including music by Claudio Monteverdi from L’Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and L’incoronazione di Poppea at La Monnaie, which is directed by Rafael R. Villalobos and conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón.
Sabata's repertoire spans from Cavalli and Monteverdi and the heroes of baroque opera seria to contemporary works. Some recent roles have included Bertarido in Handel’s Rodelinda with Claus Guth under Stefano Montanari at Opéra de Lyon, and also at Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile; Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazio-ne di Poppea under Diego Fasolis at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, at the Wiener Staatsoper in Jan Lauwers’ production under Pablo Heras-Casado and at the Liceu in Barcelona in a production by Calixto Bieito under Jordi Savall; Endimione La Calisto directed by David Alden with Ivor Bolton at Teatro Real, Madrid; the world premiere of L’enigma di Lea at Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona; title role in Handel Rinaldo at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the title role in Orlando for the Perelada Festival.
He has appeared with such ensembles as Les Arts Florissants, Europa Galante, Collegium 1704, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, Basel Sinfonieorchestra and Il Pomo D’Oro and collaborates regularly with conductors such as Fabio Biondi, Jordi Savall, Alan Curtis, Andrea Marcon, George Petrou, Maxim Emelyanychev and Ivor Bolton. He performs regularly at many of the major international concert venues and festivals including the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en- Provence, Innsbruck Festival of Early Music and the Halle, Gottingen and Dresdner Musikfestspiele.
He has a particularly close association with the Spanish group Vespres d’Arnadi and Dani Espasa and they most recently released an album titled ‘inVISIBILI’ spotlighting forgotten Baroque works. His extensive discography under major labels such as Virgin Classics/EMI and Decca includes recordings of Handel's operas Faramando, Arminio, Ottone, the multi-award-winning recording of Alessandro, and the title role in Tamerlano. The Guardian described his solo disc ‘Bad Guys’ as ranking ‘among the most intelligent and striking recital discs of recent years’. He also participated in the Gala Night of Countertenors team, alongside Max Emanuel Cencic, Yuriy Mynenko and Franco Fagioli, released by DECCA. In addition to his performances on the opera stage Xavier has a passion for Lied and has recently recorded Schubert Winterreise for the Berlin Classics label.
In addition to his very successful international career as a singer, Xavier is enjoying exploring his other creative talents developing and curating new and exciting personal projects including one man shows as well as off the stage as a director. He made his directing debut in a production of Handel’s Rinaldo, also singing the title role for the Halle Handel Festival with Capellla Cracoviensis and also directed and starred in Schoenberg’s iconic piece Pierrot Lunaire at the Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona co-produced with the Teatro Real and the Teatro de La Abadia in Madrid. One of the other highlights of this include performances of a staged Winterreise staged by Rafael R. Villalobos which he recently performed to a sold out audience at La Monnaie
Other recent highlights include Disinganno il Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno for the Goettingen Handel Festival and Andora Festival and Stradella’s San Giovanni Battista at the Fundacio Privada Castell de Peralada where he performs regularly.
He was awarded the Premio Ópera Actual in 2013, and the Premi Tendències d’el Mundo in 2014, and was nominated for best male artist in the 2019 International Opera Awards.
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HANDEL Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Disinganno)
Goettingen Handel Festival (May 2024)
Countertenor Xavier Sabata (Disinganno) … proved to be a fine performer, especially in the aria “Più non cura”.
HNA Melsunger Allgemeine
Xavier Sabata as Truth (Disinganno, literally disillusionment) … shone in the grandiose performance.
Karl Georg Berg, Die Rheinpfalz
STRADELLA St Giovanni Batista
Perelada Easter Festival (March 2024)
The countertenor from Avià once again demonstrated the caliber of his refined singing, with consistently polished phrasing and the profound significance of the sung word, in a lyrically theatrical style that is his trademark. The velvety tone of his timbre, the humanity of his singing, and that extra touch of acting, even in a concert version, made his portrayal of the apostle yet another testament to the artistic peak Xavier Sabata is currently experiencing.
Jordi Maddaleno, Platea Magazine
SCHOENBERG Pierrot Lunaire (title role)
Teatro Real / Teatro de la Abadia (February 2024)
Sabata's phrasing and exquisite intonation intensify his performances, with perfect modulations, effortless transitions to higher notes, and extraordinary homogeneity in his voice. This allows him to naturally shift from a whisper to a shout, showcasing the full range and expressiveness of his instrument.
José María Marco, Opera Actual
Xavier Sabata, a splendid performer, who in addition to being an accomplished actor is a competent singer who has developed a notable career as a countertenor and on this occasion has taken on the stage direction of this Pierrot lunaire, a fable in which Sabata tries to unify the myths of Narcissus and Pierrot.
Xoan M. Career, Mundoclasico.com
SCHUBERT Winterreise
La Monnaie (February 2024)
Xavier Sabata's theatrical performance, like a one-man show, holds the stage with a purely romantic vocal intensity: alone on stage like Schubert's wanderer, akin to a storyteller … his countertenor voice emerges, rich and celestial, with eloquence and elevation. (…) With a standing ovation by the audience, Sabata masterfully plays with this dialogue of registers, between the low and high notes (…).
Soline Heurtebise, Oryx.com
MONTEVERDI L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Ottone)
Gran Teatre del Liceu (July 2023)
The countertenor Xavier Sabata was also at an extraordinary level, delivering a textbook Ottone thanks to the breadth of his vocal resources, his absolute command of the style, and his immense acting talent.
Javier Perez Senz, Scherzo
Fantastic Xavier Sabata as Ottone, perhaps in the best performance he is remembered for at the Liceu, due to the exquisiteness of his singing and the depth of the character.
Fernando Sans Rivière, Opera Actual
GARCÍA-TOMÁS Alexina B (Doctor, Abbott, Monster, Judge)
Gran Teatre del Liceu (March 2023)
Magnificent Xavier Sabata, who beyond the Baroque has become a true champion of contemporary opera in our country, skillfully delineated his multiple characters: squalor, condescension... the entire universe of the men who decided the fate of Alexina.
Gonzalo Lahoz, Platea Magazine
Sabata, for his part, infused malignancy into all of his characters, variations of the same, and demonstrated technical proficiency in handling the musical complexity presented by García-Tomás's score.
Xavier Borja Bujar, Coladario
SCARLATTI Il Giardino d'Amore (Venus)
Globe Theatre Neuss (August 2022)
"Star-Countertenor Xavier Sabata gibt der Venus butterweiche AltKlänge"
"Star Countertenor Xavier Sabata has a buttery alto tone as Venus"
Rheinische Post, Regine Müller
"Sabata verfügt als Venere über einen sehr weichen Countertenor, der in den Koloraturen große Beweglichkeit besitzt. ... unterstreicht Sabata darstellerisch den erhabenen Charakter der Liebesgöttin. Der Tonfall in ihren Arien ist sehr melancholisch und verzweifelt."
"As Venus, Sabata has a very soft countertenor, with great flexibility in the coloratura... Sabata dramatically underlines the sublime character of the goddess of love"
OMM, Thomas Molke
PURCELL The Fairy Queen
Peralada Festival (July 2022)
“Continuity was provided by the comedian and countertenor, Xavier Sabata.”
“Sabata is very funny – and he is also a fine singer, more than capable of giving Purcell due attention.”
Simon Mundy, Opera Now
HANDEL Orlando (title role)
Theater Oper Halle (May 2022)
Exactly like that, and fully convincing: Orlando, portrayed by the Spanish countertenor Xavier Sabata, initially a noble gentleman, becomes increasingly malevolent due to his love obsession and gradually loses his mind. Xavier Sabata masters this highly demanding role, with its 'mad scene' once sung by the famous castrato Francesco Bernardi, also known as Senesino, with beautiful tone and brilliance.
Ursula Wiegand, Onlinemerker
Irresistible magic: Xavier Sabata as Orlando
Jürgen Gahre, Opera Now
HANDEL Amadigi (title role)
Madrid Auditorio Nacional with Vespres d’Arnadi (March 2022)
One of Sabata's great virtues is his stage presence, given his acting training as well as the singer, which makes his roles always very plausible, even in concert versions, as was the case. In addition, he is a singer to savor the text, which in his vocality always reaches very high levels of diction and expression.
Mario Guada, CodaLario
Sabata as Amadigi was interesting vocally and highly noteworthy theatrically, through his stage gestures, always successful. Her voice with stupendous diction and easy coloratura stood out in several of her arias, such as in the beautiful singing line shown in ' Notte, amica dei ripos' or the coloratura in the bravura aria 'Non sa temere questo mio petto'.
Carlos Orejas, Opera World
The cast was not only led, but starred almost entirely by Xavier Sabata, who played one of the most extensive Handelian roles. His Amadigi shone in the most delicate moments…Sabata masterfully moves through the various affects with an involvement and expressiveness that is out of the ordinary.
Javier Sarria Pueyo, Scherzo
Sabata, in the leading role, exhibited his undeniable charisma and that fascination he feels for tragic and tortured characters. The more grandiose and dramatically intense the character is, the more the Catalan countertenor grows. His voice is pulpy and beautifully colored, despite suffering from a certain lack of metal, but what stands out in Sabata is his dazzling mastery of coloratura, always precise, and his overwhelming expressive power in recitatives and canto spianato .
Antoni Colomer, Operà Actual
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Liederabend, Final Journeys
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An Eclectic Evening
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inVISIBILI with Vespres d'Arnadi
Some of the synonyms of INVISIBLE are imperceptible, covert, disguised, veiled…
INVISIBILI is a double tribute to:
-first of all to those composers whose relevance has been covert, disguised, veild… by
some complex processes during the construction of the Music History.
-And second to all those extraordinary musicians who remain covered, disguised, veiled by
the homogenizing structure of an Orchestra.
This CD is a collection of arias to put under the spot extraordinary composers -rarely performedand extraordinary musicians -since almost each aria has a solo instrument as obligato-
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I am an unusual thing (with Kebyart Ensemble)
A countertenor and a saxophone quartet on stage. Undoubtedly, something unusual. Kebyart and Xavier Sabata join forces to offer an eclectic and personal songbook where all music, from Vivaldi to Pärt, takes on a new dimension under this novel combination. The song I am an unusual thing by Michael Nyman, which takes up Mozart's words three days before he died, defines the essence of the artistic proposal itself.
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L'Alessandro Amante (ensemble programme)
Released on Aparté in 2018
“… a singer whose work has always combined beauty, intelligence and psychological perception in equal measure…Sabata sings this complex programme with his customary elegance and flair. His dark, warm alto has always sounded good in slower arias, where the long lines flow with ease and his breath control is exemplary…. His coloratura, always placed at the service of characterisation or drama, can be spectacular.”
Tim Ashley, Gramophone
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Mad Songs (ensemble programme)
Ensemble: Soloist + 4 musicians (cello, gamba, theorb, harpsichord + positive organ)
Duration: 1 hour without break
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Furioso (ensemble programme)
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