NIGHT AT THE OPERA | Michael Fabiano

Michael Fabiano

Of Michael Fabiano’s debut as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera, The Sunday Times in London wrote: “I can’t think of a Lensky at Covent Garden who has held the audience so spellbound in 40 years of Onegin-going… a glorious debut.” 

The recipient of the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the 2014 Richard Tucker Award, Mr. Fabiano is the first singer to win both awards in the same year, and is considered one of the greatest tenors in the world today. Recently, he was named one of the winners of the first edition Teatro Real Award given to artists who have stood out in a special way for their support to the institution throughout the 2020-21 season.

In the 2022/23 season, Mr. Fabiano performed at the San Francisco Opera for their Opera Ball, and Opera in the Park, and will sing Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. At the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, and the Wiener Staatsoper, he will sing Cavaradossi in Tosca. In addition, Mr. Fabiano will make his role debut as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur with Opera Australia, and perform recitals at the Recital Center in Melbourne, at Victoria Hall in Geneva, and at the Waterford Concert Series in Virginia rounding out his season.

During 2021/2022, Mr. Fabiano made his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Opéra National de Paris. In addition to this role, Mr. Fabiano performed the title role in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at ABAO-OLBE Bilbao Opera, and sang Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Real. Subsequent performances were Don José in Carmen at Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Washington National Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. He made his role and company debuts as Calaf in Turandot at Opera di Roma, and in a gala concert celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, his role debut as Ismaele in Nabucco at the Teatro Real, and performed Lensky in Eugene Onegin at the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli.

Mr. Fabiano began the 2019/20 season portraying Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at the Metropolitan Opera, and starring in a season-opening gala for Michigan Opera Theatre entitled An Evening with Michael Fabiano. He assumed the title roles in Don Carlo and Hoffmann, in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, both at the Opéra National de Paris, and performed Alfredo in La Traviata, and Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Teatro Real, and Ruggero in La Rondine at the Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli. In the summer of 2019 he performed in recital in Turku, Finland, and performed in a concert with orchestra for the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro.

Mr. Fabiano made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Rodolfo, opening their 2018/19 season in a new production of La Bohème. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera for his role debut as Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele followed by Rodolfo in La Bohème, and portrayed a second incarnation of Faust when he assumed the title role in the Gounod opera at the Royal Opera. He made his role debut as Werther with Opera Australia, and debuted at the Staatsoper Berlin as the Duke in a new production of Rigoletto, which was followed by another role debut when he portrays Carlo VII in Verdi’s Giovanna D’Arco at the Teatro Real. In addition, there were concerts with the Moscow Philharmonic at Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, at the Sun Valley Opera, and a special concert for the Dallas Opera: Fabiano, Hymel, and Polenzani, in which Mr. Fabiano performed with his colleagues Bryan Hymel and Matthew Polenzani.

Among Mr. Fabiano’s career highlights are his first Don José in Carmen at Festival Aix-en-Provence, the title role in Donizetti’s Poliuto at the Glyndebourne Festival in the first performances of this opera in UK history, Jacopo Foscari in I Due Foscari at the Teatro Real, Alfredo in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera and Glyndebourne Festival, Jean in Massenet’s rarely performed Hérodiade and Corrado in Il Corsaro with Washington Concert Opera, and Oronte in I Lombardi  with Opera Orchestra of New York.

Mr. Fabiano has performed at many of the world’s leading opera houses; a list that includes: the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera, Opera Australia, Teatro Real, Opéra National de Paris, Dutch National Opera, La Scala, ABAO-OLBE, Dresden Semperoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, the Glyndebourne Festival, Royal Danish Opera, and Houston Grand Opera. In addition, he has graced concert stages with some of the world’s most acclaimed orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, and the Vienna Symphony, and has performed a number of major recital and concert tours.

Pentatone released Mr. Fabiano’s first CD of Donizetti and Verdi arias. On DVD, he can be seen in the title role of Donizetti’s Poliuto and Alfredo in La Traviata, both from the Glyndebourne Festival on Opus Arte, Cassio in Otello from the Metropolitan Opera on Decca, Gennaro in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia from the San Francisco Opera on EuroArts and Naxos of America, and the title role in Faust from the Royal Opera, on Opus Arte.

Mr. Fabiano is the recipient of Australia’s prestigious Helpmann Award in the “Best Male Performance in an Opera” category, for his portrayal of the title role in Gounod’s Faust with Opera Australia. He is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild Artists’ Council and one of the founders of ArtSmart, a non-profit organization whose mission is to transform the lives of youth in under-resourced communities across the US through tuition-free music lessons and mentorship by paid, professional artists. He is also Chief Strategy Officer for Resonance, a social commerce platform that provides creative professionals and organizations with the mechanism to expand their network, and offer and find services.