Xavier Sabata

Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata first trained on saxophone and in drama prior to launching his professional singing career. He secured early recognition in the classical sphere through collaborations with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, taking part in stagings of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Francesco Cavalli’s La Didone, and Stefano Landi’s Il Sant’Alessio. Numerous period-instrument groups have featured him, among them Europa Galante, Collegium 1704, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, I Barocchisti, El Concierto Español, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, and Il Pomo d’Oro. His extensive repertory spans the early Baroque through the Romantic age, yet he moves with equal assurance into contemporary scores, including Hans Thomalla’s Kaspar Hauser, written expressly for him, and Fabrice Bollon’s Oscar und die Dame in Rosa. A noted interpreter of Handel, Sabata has sung Ottone in concert at the Theater an der Wien and has performed Rinaldo at both the Handel Festival in Halle and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Recital work has taken him to Barcelona for Schubert’s Winterreise and to Madrid’s Ciclo de Lied. Festival appearances recur at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Festival de musique Baroque d’Ambronay, the Salzburg Festival, the Handel Festival Karlsruhe, and the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. His discography appears on Aparté, Decca, Naïve, Anima e Corpo, and Opus Arte.