From Handel's great heroic roles to the theatrical worlds of Britten and Ligeti, Xavier Sabata has forged a distinctive international career as a countertenor, combining leading operatic roles with an adventurous approach to music and theatre. Originally trained as an actor, he brings a remarkable dramatic intelligence and imagination to his performances, whether on the opera stage or in the original theatrical projects he conceives and directs. His career has taken him to the Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu and many of Europe's leading opera houses and festivals.
Recent highlights include the title roles in Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Gran Teatre del Liceu under William Christie and Orlando at Oper Köln, Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream in Seville, Prince Go-Go in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at the Wiener Staatsoper and I Grotteschi at La Monnaie. Forthcoming engagements include title and major roles at La Monnaie and Teatro Real, a return to Oper Köln for Scarlatti's Il primo omicidio, the title role in Handel's Orlando in Tenerife and Alessandro with Vespres d'Arnadí.
A celebrated interpreter of Handel and the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, Sabata has collaborated with leading conductors including William Christie, René Jacobs, Jordi Savall, Christophe Rousset, Maxim Emelyanychev, Andrea Marcon and Fabio Biondi, and ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Il Pomo d'Oro, Freiburger Barockorchester, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Concerto Köln. His close artistic relationship with Dani Espasa and Vespres d'Arnadí continues to produce performances and recordings of both familiar and neglected Baroque repertoire. This season also sees him perform Handel's Scipione with The English Concert under Harry Bicket.
Alongside his international operatic career, Sabata has established himself as an imaginative creator of original musical and theatrical projects. He made his directing debut with Handel's Rinaldo at the Händel-Festspiele Halle, also singing the title role, and subsequently directed and performed in Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in a co-production with Teatro Real and Teatro de La Abadía. His theatrical collaborations include Genius Loci, created with Rafael R. Villalobos, and a staged interpretation of Schubert's Winterreise, which he performed to a sold-out audience at La Monnaie.
His distinctive recital projects further reflect his wide-ranging musical curiosity. Furioso, exploring the tormented world of Handel's Orlando with Le Concert de l'Hostel Dieu, has been recorded and performed internationally, while inVISIBILI with Vespres d'Arnadí and Dani Espasa brings neglected Baroque repertoire to new audiences. His collaboration with the Kebyart saxophone quartet, I Am an Unusual Thing, crosses centuries and musical genres, from Vivaldi and Purcell to Gershwin, Weill and Sondheim. His commitment to Lied has also led to a recording of Schubert's Winterreise for Berlin Classics.
Sabata's extensive discography includes Handel's Tamerlano, Ottone, Arminio, Faramondo and the award-winning Alessandro. His solo album Bad Guys was described by The Guardian as ranking "among the most intelligent and striking recital discs of recent years". Nominated for Best Male Singer at the 2019 International Opera Awards, he has also received the Premio Ópera Actual and Premi Tendències awards. He studied acting at Barcelona's Institut del Teatre before undertaking vocal studies at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya and the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe.
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Scipione - English Concert
London, October 2026
In Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata, we heard a Lucejo who breezed through all the extraordinary feats of power and control Handel wrote for superstar castrato Senesino with utter assurance... Sabata filled his thunderous, smouldering lines with anger, injury and even spite... His “Come al natio boschetto” unveiled a fluid, mellifluous tenderness that helped make the closing duet with Crowe, “Si fuggano i tormenti”, a delight.
Boyd Tonkin, The Arts Desk
'I am an unusual thing' with Kebyart Ensemble, Dresdner Musikfestspiele
Palais im großen Garten (May 2026)
The Catalan quartet, along with countertenor Xavier Sabata, received a frenetic ovation on Friday… Sabata lived what he sang, savoring the finest nuances of expression… A real coup, the second encore: "It's a Sin" by the Pet Shop Boys, set to a baroque foundation.
Sächsische Zeitung
Perseus’s much-loved aria was sung by Sabata with a melancholic beauty. A highlight was Sabata’s performance of Der Lindenbaume (The Linden Tree) from Schubert’s masterwork Winterreise. It did surprise how well the countertenor voice so expressive and convincing suited this Romantic Lieder. In addition, a mélodie by French Late-Romantic and Impressionist composer Deodat de Severac Paysages tristes – Soleils couchants (Sad landscapes – Settings Suns) to verse by Verlaine was a success with Sabata radiating genuine feeling that I found eminently moving. Throughout the concert Sabata’s effortless artistry was palpable.
Michael Cookson, Seen and Heard International
LIGETI Le Grand Macabre (Prince Go-Go)
Wiener Staatsoper (March 2026)
Musically precise and fully cast in the part of Prince Go-Go, the countertenor Xavier Sabata shows off a voluminous voice...
Eugenio Poli, Connessi all’Opera
…the vocal standard is excellent… Prince Go-Go (Xavier Sabata)
Ljubiša Tošić, Der Standard
BRITTEN A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon)
Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville (February 2026)
Xavier Sabata embodied an Oberon of refined line and homogeneous delivery, avoiding affected excess in favor of a restrained authority… his phrasing, always grounded in legato, displayed particular elegance in the more introspective passages.
Gonzalo Roldán C, Opera World (Spain)
The haunting tones of Xavier Sabata's Oberon were delicate and authoritative at once
Victoria Stapells, Opera Magazine
The role of the tyrant Oberon was played by the Barcelona countertenor Xavier Sabata, who sang…with a good sound, half docile, half sibylline, typical of his ambiguous and unsettling role, bringing out the actor within him.
Arturo Weber, Pro Ópera
…Xavier Sabata, whose suppleness of phrasing and delicacy of timbre is admired
Patrice Imbaud, Resmusica
HANDEL Giulio Cesare (title role)
Gran Teatre del Liceu (May 2025)
The title role in Handel's Giulio Cesare was sung by Catalan countertenor Xavier Sabata, who gave one of his finest performances at the Liceu… Sabata did a superb job musically and as an actor, presenting a Cesare with dramatic flair…achieving great success especially in the most lyrical and emotional arias of the opera's main character.
Fernando Sans Riviere, OperaActual
Caesar is sung by Barcelona's Xavier Sabata, who has the stature to impress… He maintains a beautiful singing line
Jean-Marcel Humbert, Forum Opera
Sabata, always a great artist, sensitive musician, and charismatic actor… portraying a complex, flesh-and-blood Cesare, always phrasing elegantly.
Antoni Colomer, Platea Magazine
Xavier Sabata recreated a skillful Giulio Cesare
Maria Sánchez, Bachtrack
MONTEVERDI I Grotteschi (Esperienza)
La Monnaie (April 2025)
Esperienza, sung by Xavier Sabata, embodies the housekeeper… imposing a voice of control in the face of the excesses of the other characters. The countertenor's lower tones, combined with a fully mastered head voice, succeeds in expressing this authority without ever losing its naturalness. A subtle humanity emerges in the high notes, carried with intensity and precision, giving the character a singular vocal density.
Xavier Sabata shines in the female role of Esperienza, governess and confidante. Protective but ambivalent, she navigates between loyalty to the family and personal interests. The wolf mother of the two servants, in the manner of the Roman she-wolf in Romulus and Remus, she embodies the anxieties and outbursts of empathy of a mother with a remarkable vocal depth. Sensitive and intense, this mother lives through her daughters with a breadth that will have conquered the public.
Soline Heurtebise, Olyrix
The countertenor, Xavier Sabata, produced a larger-than-life interpretation, which had her whooping and screaming, mimicking and crying. There was plenty of comedy in his portrayal, but also sadness and quiet compassion. It was a fascinating and successful reading, a judgement that can also be applied to his vocal presentation. Recitatives were animated and grabbed the attention, while his arias were wonderfully crafted to bring out the full depth of their emotional content. In Act one of “Godo,” he sings the lullaby “Adagiati, fanciulla” to comfort his daughter: the love and compassion he was able to inject into his voice was a delight; moreover, it stood in such stark contrast to her normal hysterics that the effect was breathtaking.
Alan Neilson, OperaWire
Xavier Sabata's performance in the role of Esperienza, the nanny/governess, was also a great success. At times comforting, hilarious and provocative, the character occupies a large place in the plot, and the singer takes up the challenge with panache… His lullaby at the end of the first act of Godo was a peak of musical emotion.
Claude Jottrand, Forum Opera
Esperianza, brilliantly played by an extraordinary Xavier Sabata.
Sébastien Foucart, ConcertoNet
Finally, we must salute the exceptional comic and hilarious incarnation of Xavier Sabata as a plaintive and exasperated governess Esperienza, bringing, through all her vocal theatricality, her twirling stage acting, and her wide expressive range, both vocal and physical, within this comedy as dark as it is intellectual, a great burst of laughter and a comic illusion welcome by its very successful cross-dressing.
Benedict Hévry, ResMusica
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
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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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Furioso (ensemble programme)
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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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An Eclectic Evening
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Liederabend, Final Journeys
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