Michael Fabiano

Although his career was still young in the middle and late 2010s, tenor Michael Fabiano was already appearing in top opera houses in the U.S. and abroad, and winning praises for his powerful tenor voice. He issued his debut album in 2019. Fabiano was born in Montclair, New Jersey, on May 8, 1984, but grew up partly in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. In high school, he was both a baseball umpire and a debater, and he contemplated a business career. His real start in music came as a vocal performance major at the University of Michigan, where he graduated in just three years in 2005. He studied there with George Shirley, then went on for advanced work at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. He held an apprenticeship at the Santa Fe Opera in 2005, and by 2007 he was ready for his stage debut as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata at the Klagenfurt Stadttheater in Austria. By 2008, he had already made his debut at La Scala in Milan as Rinuccio in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, and in 2010 he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Raffaele in Verdi's Stiffelio. The majority of Fabiano's stage appearances have been in the center of the Italian repertory, in works by Verdi and Puccini, but he has also sung such works as Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus at the Met in 2014. That year, he won two of the top American operatic prizes, the Richard Tucker Award and the Beverly Sills Artist Award. He was the first performer to win both in the same year. That busy season also included a Kennedy Center recital debut. Fabiano has continued to appear in top houses, and in the 2017-2018 season he appeared in Puccini's La Bohème at both the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House in London. Fabiano was signed to the Pentatone label, and in 2019 he made his recording recital debut with an ambitious album devoted to the connections between late Donizetti and early Verdi. Fabiano is to married to marketing and branding consultant Bryan McCalister; their 2018 wedding took place at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. He is an enthusiastic private pilot.
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