Stefano Palatchi

Stefano Palatchi has consolidated his international career thanks to his admirable vocation for theatre, his attractive timbre and his much applauded expressive faculties. The bass, from the city ofBarcelona, studied with Maya Maiska, Gino Bechi, Ettore Campogaliani and Armen Boyajian, in his native town as well as inFlorenceandNew York.

His tone is powerful, wide, dark, sonorous, and agile with really good low notes and nobility on stage. With his presence in almost every Spanish opera season and in some of the most respected international theatres, he has become an indispensable singer-actor and the most important Spanish basses of the last decades.

Since his debut in the Gran Teatre Del Liceu in Barcelona25 years ago, in 1986, he has won the affection of audiences. In his continued relationship with the Barcelona theatre, he has taken part in several hundred performances of more than thirty operas from a wide repertoire, in which his affinity with Verdi’s music stands out, consolidating his position as the prototype for a “basso verdiano” playing such roles as Filippo II (Don Carlo Teatro Campoamor, Oviedo), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino, Liceu Barcelona), Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra, Liceu), Walter (Luisa Miller, ABAO) Banquo (Macbeth, Liceu, Minnesota, Valencia, Malaga), Ramfis (Aida, Liceu, Metropolitan Opera House, Minnesota, Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile), Sparafucile (Rigoletto, Teatro Real, Colón, Buenos Aires, Liceu, Jerez, Las Palmas) and Ferrando (Il Trovatore, Teatro Zarzuela, Real, Liceu, Campoamor) Jorg (Stiffelio, Teatro Argentino, La Plata).

However, Stefano Palatchi’s voice has allowed him to take on other styles and composers with success, such as Mozart –Die Zauberflöte (Teatro Real, Las Palmas) Puccini or bel canto -Turandot (Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Liceu, Valencia, Málaga), La Bohème (Metropolitan Opera, Washington Opera, Liceu, Teatro Real, Sao Carlos de Lisboa), Lucia di Lammermoor (Liceu, Colón de Buenos Aires, Valencia, Málaga), La Favorita (Liceu, Real, Pamplona, Campoamor de Oviedo), La Sonnambula (Liceu, Bilbao) and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Ankara, Liceu, Las Palmas)-, as well as French opera -Samson et Dalila (Liceu, Real), Thaïs (Liceu, Las Palmas, Oviedo) or Roméo et Juliette (Oviedo, Jérez, Lausanne, Modena)- and contemporary, having performed in absolute premieres such as Balada’s Cristóbal Colón (Liceu, alongside Caballé and Carreras), Guinjoan’s Gaudi, (Liceu), García Demestres’s Joc de mans, (Modena Auditorium), Balada’s Faust-Bal, (Teatro Real, Madrid), and Halffter’s Lázaro (Palau de la Música de Valencia and the Athens Megaron). His incursions into other repertoire range from Baroque to Zarzuela, with acclaimed performances, such as his outstanding Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

In 1999, Palatchi was one of the protagonists in the reopening of the new Liceu in 1999, taking part in the opera Turandot and in the recent seasons he has sung in Madrid, Bilbao, Oviedo, Seville, Paris, Rome, Marseille, Lisbon, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, Puerto Rico, Washington, San Francisco, Verona, Peralada, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or New York, collaborating with outstanding conductors (Gardelli, Bonynge, Zedda, Santi, Oren, López Cobos, Menotti, Rilling, Rozhdestvensky, Ros Marbà, Guingal, Frühbeck de Burgos, Davis or Armiliato) and from the beginning of his career, alongside artists such as Sutherland, Kraus, Aragall, Caballé, Berganza, Carreras, Freni, Milnes, Bruson, Gruberova, Domingo, Carreras, Alagna, Gheorghiu, Cura, Zajick, Bartoli, Villazón, Renée Fleming and many others.

In the field of concerts, Stefano Palatchi has extensive experience in works like Mozart’s Requiem or Verdi’s Requiem Mass, both performed in the last two seasons at the Palau de la Música, Barcelona and Peralada International Festival and recently Berlioz’s  L’enfance du Christ  on a tour  inFrance with  l’ONPL conducted by John Alexrod.

Some of his engagements in the next months include Adriana Lecouvreur and Aida at the Gran Teatre del Liceu,Barcelona and various concerts at the Palau de la Musica,Barcelona.

Stefano Palatchi has an extensive recording career (see discography section), with works for Decca, RTVE Música, Columna Música, Nightingale Classics, Koch Discover, Astrée Auvidis, Auvidis, Auvidis Valois, Sello Autor, Naxos and Opus Arte. With the recording of La Dolores, by Bretón, he obtained a Latin Grammy Award; with Margarita la Tornera, by Chapí, he was nominated for the Latin Grammy Award; and with El Gato con Botas, by Montsalvatge, he obtained a nomination for the Grammy Awards. Palatchi is patron of the Clarós Foundation dedicated to the support of acute deafness through research, prevention and education.