John Malveaux: New York Times: Soaring at 1,500 Feet With Michael Fabiano, Opera’s Risk-Taking Tenor

The tenor Michael Fabiano at the Essex County Airport in New Jersey. Credit Michael Kirby Smith for The New York Times

George Shirley

John Malveaux of

www.MusicUNTOLD.com  

writes:

The recipient of the 2014 Richard Tucker Award and the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award, Michael Fabiano is the first-ever winner of both awards in the same year, and is considered one of the greatest young tenors in the world today.  Michael Fabiano will perform in recital at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, Ca., April 8, 2017. Gail Eichenthal, KUSC Classical Radio will attend the recital and she shared the connection between Fabiano and legendary tenor George Shirley mentioned in New York Times article https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/arts/music/michael-fabiano-met-opera-la-traviata.html?emc=eta1

The New York Times

Michael Cooper

February 28, 2017

It was not until he got into the University of Michigan and began studying with George Shirley, a tenor who was one of the first African-American men to sing leading roles at the Met in the 1960s, that he became serious about singing.

Mr. Shirley said that Mr. Fabiano was on a fast track from the start. “He sings with such passion — that’s one of the things that makes people concerned,” he said in a telephone interview. “Because whatever Michael does, it’s 3,000 percent. There’s no backing off. That’s his personality. But so far, so good. He walks to the beat of his own drummer, and so far, the beat is solid.”