About the artist
Dizzying heights paired with naturalness
Valer Sabadus achieved international fame in 2012 with his outstanding interpretation of Semira in Leonardo Vinci's opera "Artaserse" (director: Silviu Purcarete, conductor: Diego Fasolis) at the opera houses of Nancy, Lausanne and Cologne, the Theater an der Wien, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Opéra Royal de Versailles and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
Since then, his international career in concert, song and opera has developed in many ways.
His long-standing partners include renowned early music ensembles such as La Cetra Barockorchester Basel, Concerto Köln, Freiburger Barockorchester, L'Arpeggiata, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Kammerorchester Basel, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Cappella Mediterranea, Accademia Bizantina, Il Pomo d'Oro, Les Talens Lyriques, Ensemble 1700 and Nuovo Aspetto under conductors such as Leonardo García Alarcón, Ivor Bolton, Ottavio Dantone, Michael Hofstetter, Andrea Marcon, Alessandro de Marchi, Riccardo Minasi and Christophe Rousset. His partners include Dorothee Oberlinger, Christina Pluhar, Nuria Rial, Albrecht Mayer, Midori Seiler, Philippe Jaroussky and Julia Lezhneva.
His musical curiosity is very strong, which is reflected in his cross-genre, interdisciplinary and intercultural projects - the trademark of Valer Sabadus. These include "Songs of Love" with the Syrian singer Dima Orsho and Musica Alta Ripa, a combination of music by Henry Purcell and composers from the Orient, or the programme "Closer to Paradise" with the classical band SPARK, with yearning sounds ranging from Handel to the cult band Rammstein.
These projects also feature in his discography, such as "Café - Orient meets Occident" (2012) and "Trialogue - Music for the One God" with the Turkish Pera Ensemble (2013), "Alla Napoletana" with the ensemble L'Arpeggiata (2021) and "Closer to Paradise" with the classical band SPARK (2022). They occupy an important place in his extensive and varied discography, alongside operas, concertos and solo repertoire. More than 25 productions to date testify to the breadth of his artistic output, ranging from early Baroque works by Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli, 18th-century Italian sacred and operatic music and Sergei Rachmaninov's Vocalise to expressionist and contemporary works such as Enjott Schneider's Requiem "In the Name of the Rose" (2012).
His opera recordings include "Vinci: Artaserse" with Concerto Köln, Diego Fasolis, Philippe Jaroussky, Max-Emanuel Cencic, Franco Fagioli, Yuriy Myenko (2012), "Hasse: Didone abbandonata" (2013) and "Vinvi: Catone in Utica" (2015).
With "Hasse Reloaded" (2011), "Pergolesi: Stabat Mater" (2012), "To touch, to kiss, to die" etc. with works by Henry Purcell, John Dowland (2013), "Le belle immagini" with the Hofkapelle Munich (2014), "Caldara" with Nouvo Aspetto (2015), "Sacred Duets" with Nuria Rial and the Basel Chamber Orchestra (2017), "Handel goes wild" with L'Arpeggiata (2017), "Caro Gemello" - Farinelli and Metastasio with Concerto Köln (2018), "Arias-Bach/Telemann" with the Basel Chamber Orchestra (Sony Classical, 2021), and the latest CD “Francesco Bartolomeo Conti: Bravo! Bene!“ with Nuovo Aspetto (2023) is an impressive testimony to Valer Sabadus' development as a soloist.
Valer Sabadus has received numerous awards for his work, including the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, ECHO Klassik and the International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for Young Artist of the Year - Vocal 2013.
Johann Adolph Hasse's "Didone abbandonata" was a groundbreaking opera production. In 2009, at the age of 23, he made his debut under Riccardo Muti at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival in the production of "Demofoonte" (Niccolò Jommelli), and was also heard at the Ravenna Festival and the Opéra National de Paris. Since then, Valer Sabadus has enjoyed great success in Schwetzingen, Frankfurt, Halle, Berlin, Dresden, Versailles, Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Paris, Geneva and Amsterdam.
In the 2024/25 season, Valer Sabadus will return to Timisoara to interpret the swan in Carl Orff's ‘Carmina Burana’ with the Filarmonica Banatul Timisoara under the direction of Gabriel Bebeselea. Following his success as Adriano in Graun's ‘Adriano in Siria’ at the Potsdam Music Festival, he will once again take on this role at the Philharmonie Essen, where he will be accompanied by the Ensemble 1700 under Dorothee Oberlinger as well as Roberta Mameli, Bruno de Sá, David Tricou, Keri Fuge and Federico Fiorio. He returns to Potsdam for a concert with the Kammerakademie Potsdam. He will perform with the La Cetra Barockorchester Basel under Andrea Marcon in Basel, Olten and Lugano.
Valer Sabadus will present arias by Handel and Vivaldi with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. In Lausanne, he will perform Bach's St John Passion with the Hofkapelle München. He will perform in Paris together with L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar. Together with Julia Lezhneva and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, he will perform Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. In Bucharest, he will be heard with the Enescu Philharmonic in Bach's St Matthew Passion and in Peralada in Hasse's ‘Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena’. In a major opera production in Ostrava and Znojmo, Valer Sabadus will take on the role of Sesto in Handel's Giulio Cesare.
The programme ‘Closer to Paradise’ with the classical band Spark takes Valer Sabadus to Pulheim, Delden, Bocholt, Hildesheim and the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, among other places.
Valer Sabadus is a regular guest at renowned festivals such as the Handel Festivals in Karlsruhe and Halle, the Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Bremen Music Festival, the Dresden Music Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Lucerne Festival, the Festival de Musique Baroque d'Ambronay, the Froville Festival, the Utrecht Early Music Festival, the Schubertiade Hohenems and Schwarzenberg, the Styriarte Graz, the Festwochen für Alte Musik in Innsbruck and the Grafenegg Festival. As a soloist he has performed in the Berlin, Essen and Cologne Philharmonie, the Dortmund, Berlin and Vienna Concert Halls, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Frauenkirche in Dresden, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the KKL in Lucerne, l'Auditori in Barcelona and the Philharmonie in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Valer Sabadus began his vocal training at the age of 17 at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Prof. Gabriele Fuchs and completed his training as a member of the Bayerische Theaterakademie August Everding in the master class for musical theatre in 2013 with distinction.
In 2020, Valer Sabadus was awarded the Handel Prize of the City of Halle and in 2022 the Bavarian Culture Price.
