Xavier Sabata, Alicia Amo, Tiento Nuovo, Ignacio Prego
Biography Xavier Sabata, Alicia Amo, Tiento Nuovo, Ignacio Prego
Alicia Amo
begins her musical studies in the speciality of Violin combining with Classical Percussion and Ballet. She obtains the Higher Diploma in Violin in Musikene (San Sebastián) with the best marks and continues at the University of Graz. She moves to Basle to study historical Singing at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with G. Türk, R. Levitt, R. Domínguez and M. Honig and gets the Bachelor degree and the Master degree with Honors. Alicia has also studied baroque violin and taken part in two Operastudio with Alberto Zedda (Bel Canto) and René Jacobs (Mozart, Susanna role).
She is winner of the "Mozart" International Opera Competition Granada, Manhattan International Music Competition, Berliner International Music Competition, "Francesco Provenzale" International Singing Competition in Naples, the principal role in the Atelier Lyrique Strasburg and the residences at Royaumont, Ambronay and Fondazione Cini Venezia.
As a soloist, she performs repertoire from 16th C. to 21th C. conducted by A.Fischer, R.Jacobs, J.Pons, D.Afkham, C.Rovaris, P.Daniel, G.Andretta, V.Pablo Pérez, J.Pons, J.R.Encinar, G.García-Calvo, P.González, M.Romea, M.A.Gómez-Martínez, P.Heras-Casado, E.Onofri, A.Marcon, T.Hengelbrock, C.Zacharias, A.de Marchi, J.Cohen, D.Reiland, A.Biron, R.Pichon, M.Emelyanychev, R.Howarth, L.Equilbey and F.Corti. Alicia sings with orchestras such as Zürcher Kammerorchester, Café Zimmermann, Il pomo d'Oro, B’rock Orchester, Danish Kammerorchester, Orchestra National de Metz, Balthasar Neumann Orchester, Le Banquet Celeste, Orchestra di Camera di Lugano, Le Parlement de Musique, Israel Camerata Jerusalem, Pygmalion Ensemble, La Cetra Basel, Haydn Philharmonie, Insula Orchestra, Bochumer Symphonyker, Düsseldorfer Symphonyker, Vokalakademie Berlin, Orquesta Nacional de España, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Orquesta Sinfónica de Bilbao, Orquesta Oviedo Filarmonía, Real Filharmonía de Galicia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, Orquesta Sinfónica Ciudad de Granada, Orquesta Sinfónica de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Orquesta Sinfónica de las Islas Baleares, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio-Televisión Española among others, and in theaters like Versailles, Nantes, Rennes, Nancy, Bourdeaux, Festival d’Ambronay, Capitole (Tolouse), La Seine Musicale and Theatre des Champs Elysées (Paris), Liceu and Palau de la Música (Barcelona), Arriaga and Euskalduna (Bilbao), Campoamor and Auditorio Príncipe Felipe (Oviedo), La Maestranza (Sevilla), Palacio Carlos V and Auditorio Manuel de Falla (Granada), La Zarzuela and Auditorio Nacional (Madrid), Kursaal and Teatro Victoria Eugenia (San Sebastián), De Singel (Antwerpen), Teatro Massimo (Palermo), Ruhrtriennale Bochum, Innsbrucker Festwoche der Alten Musik, Konzerthaus Wien, Theater an der Wien, Schloss Esterházy, Semperoper Dresden, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Philharmonie Essen, Lima, Guanajuato, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Alicia founds the ensemble Musica Boscareccia with A.Mercero and her first CD is nominated at ICMA awards. She makes recordings for Harmonia Mundi, Arcana, Naïve, Alpha, Tactus, Glossa and she teaches historical singing in AIMAntiqua, University of Murcia and Burgos Baroque OperaStudio.
In her trajectory as a violinist she has been concertmaster and soloist of the Spanish Youth Orchestra (JONDE) and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Burgos, and member of the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO), Steirische Philarmonie, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla, Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española and I Barocchisti.
Xavier Sabata
Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata’s 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 roles of Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and Prince Go-Go in a revival of Le Grand Macabre at Wiener Staatsoper. He also sings performances with ensemble Tiento Nuovo, the Kebyart saxophone quartet in Spain and at Dresdner Musikfestspiele, and with Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu at La Monnaie, Palau de la Música Catalana, Froville and Lyon. Further ahead he returns for title roles at Oper Köln and La Monnaie.
Sabata's repertoire spans from Cavalli and Monteverdi and the heroes of baroque opera seria to contemporary works. Some recent roles have included the title role in Handel’s Orlando for Oper Köln and also for the Perelada Festival; the title role in Giulio Cesare for Gran Teatre del Liceu; various roles in a new production titled I Grotteschi with music by Monteverdi at La Monnaie; which was directed by Rafael R. Villalobos and conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón; 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 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 the Liceu; and the title role in Handel Rinaldo at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
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, 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.
