Martinique-born French countertenor Fabrice di Falco has developped various gala concerts, “Tribute to Maria Callas”, “Tribute to Christiane Eda Pierre” and “Tribute to the Black Divas” which he has very successfully presented to audiences and France and French Overseas Territories. Future performances are planned in Martinique, Clermont-Ferrand and in Rodez for the festival in Aveyron.
He also is the Artistic Director of the Festival Filao which takes place in Martinique and on the Island of Reúnion in February. In the festival, he also gave his debut as a stage director for a production of Bizet’s “Carmen”.
On the opera stage, his signature role in recent years has been Akhnaten in Philip Glass’ homonymous opera at Opera de Nice in 2020 and 2021 in a production by Lucinda Childs under the musical direction of Léo Warynski.
France Télévision and France O recently made a film entitled “Fabrice di Falco, an operatic voice beyond the seas,” which was a huge hit with audiences in Paris cinemas and on television. The second film ” Fabrice di Falco, l’oiseau rebelle ” was scheduled to be released in November 2020, but also had to be postponed.
Since January 2018, Fabrice di Falco is also artistic director of the competition “Voix des outre-mers”, offering master classes to candidates before the competition and supporting candidates alongside Karine Deshayes to help them professionalize in the elite world of opera.
In addition to Baroque music, where the countertenor made his early debut under Jean-Claude Malgoire as Narciso in “Agrippina” by Handel and appeared in numerous concert programs of arias for castrati and other Baroque works at international festivals in Europe and overseas, he has also focused on contemporary music: Peter Ruzicka invited him to perform one of the leading roles in the contemporary opera “Heptaméron” by Gerhard Winkler as part of the Munich Biennale and the ZKM Karlsruhe. He regularly sings in world premieres of the most important French composers, such as the role of Fougère in “Les Quatres Jumelles” by Régis Campo in Paris, Diouf in “Les Nègres” by Michaël Levinas at the opera houses of Lyon and Geneva, the leading role in Florence Baschet’s opera “Piranhas” in Annecy, Grenoble and Paris, as well as “The Metamorphosis” by Levinas (after Franz Kafka) at the Lille Opera. He performed the role of Adschib in “L’Upupa” by Henze at the Lyon Opera and in Tokyo with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; as Oberon in Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, at the Opéra de Nice and the Opéra de Metz. He had great success at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg and Mulhouse in the world premiere of the opera “Quai Ouest” by Régis Campo.
Among the conductors and directors with whom Fabrice di Falco has worked are Jean-Claude Malgoire, Russel Keable, Grant Llewellyn, Bernard Kontarsky, Mark Foster, Markus Bosch, Stanislas Nordey, Frédéric Fisbach, Jean-François Vinciguerra, Paul-Emile Fourny.
His love for jazz made him accept the invitation of the African saxophonist Manu Dibangu, who asked him to play the first part of his concert in the famous Parisian “Olympia”. Fabrice offered a program from baroque to jazz music. Since then he often sings baroque arias in jazz arrangements with the Di Falco Quartet, which he founded.
There are numerous CD recordings with Fabrice di Falco that document his versatility, including “Ombra mai fu” (JVC) with arrangements by Mike Gibbs, the album “Glassharmonica” (Naxos), “Agrippina” by Handel (Dynamic, also on DVD), “L’Heptaméron” by Winkler (col legno) and “Les Nègres” by Michaël Levinas (Aeon Music). Furthermore, the CD “Hommage of Farinelli to the King of Pop” was released, on which the countertenor shows all his facets from opera to chant, jazz and pop.
Fabrice di Falco received his training in Paris with Liliane Mazeron and Rachel Yakar.
09/2024
