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The German tenor, Roberto Saccà, was born in Sendenhorst, West Germany to an Italian father and a German mother. He grew up in Stuttgart where he sang as a member of the Stuttgarter Hymnus-Chorknaben. He studied singing at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart with Bruce Abel, and further at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Aldo Baldin. Throughout his musical life, his German-Italian roots have enabled him to span two worlds. His Sicilian heritage led him as a student to the popular Italian bel canto tradition. His student years were influenced by the exploration of his German side. His teacher, Aldo Baldin, introduced him to the Passions and Cantatas of J.S. Bach, thereby laying the musical foundations for a career as an opera and concert singer.
Roberto Saccà was a member of the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg from 1987, and of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden from 1988. He appeared there in 1990 as Noboku in Henze's Das verratene Meer, repeating the role in the first production of the opera in Italy at the Teatro Lirico in Milan a year later. He appeared as a guest at European opera houses and festivals, singing Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at both the Staatsoper Berlin and the Volksoper in Vienna, and David in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at La Monnaie in Brussels, where he also performed in the world premiere of Boesman's Reigen in 1993.
As his voice developed further, Roberto Saccà moved away from the mainstream and began a fruitful collaboration with Alexander Pereira and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in Zürich. His big break internationally came in 1995 with Joseph Haydn’s L’anima del Filosofo opposite Cecilia Bartoli. In the following years Zürich Opera became the heart of his artistic activities. It was in Zürich in 1996 that he sang the title role in the world premiere Herbert Willi’s opera Schlafes Bruder. There he went on to enjoy considerable further success in productions such as W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte, and Rossini’s Barber Of Seville. Also worthy of mention are acclaimed performances of L’elisir D’amore with Anna Netrebko and The Magic Flute at San Francisco Opera. In 2000 he sang W.A. Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail together with Natalie Dessay at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Roberto Saccà's first encounter with Richard Strauss was in Daphne under Christian Thielemann at Berlin Deutsche Oper in 2002-2003. His role as Leukippos provided a fascinating opportunity to immerse himself in an extended vocal Fach. In the same year he toured Japan, performing Puccini’s La Bohème and Gianni Schicchi, and Ravel’s L’heure Espagnole under Seiji Ozawa. There followed numerous acclaimed tours, notably to the USA, where he made his debut in the Carnegie Hall, New York, and in the Kennedy Center, Washington with Renée Fleming, under the direction of Semyon Byshkov. A personal highlight was his participation in the re-opening of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2004. He performed in the inaugural concert under Riccardo Muti, and sang Alfredo in the new production of La Traviata under Lorin Maazel. This was broadcast on television worldwide, and later released on DVD. Another outstanding personal success was his portrayal of Bacchus in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at Zürich Opera in late 2006. Next came new productions of Henze’s L’upupa (the role of the Demon) at Hamburg Staatsoper, and La Clemenza di Tito at Berlin Staatsoper. As a leading W.A. Mozart tenor, he performed widely in W.A. Mozart Year 2006, including Idomeneo in Barcelona, La Clemenza di Tito in Berlin and Madrid, Lucio Silla at the Salzburg Festival and in Venice, Entführung aus dem Serail in Turin, Cosi Fan Tutte in Vienna, and La Clemenza di Tito in Zürich. He went on to appear in new productions as Duca in Rigoletto at the Teatro Regio Turin, Baron Lummer in Intermezzo at Zürich Opera House, as well as in Manon at Marseille Opera, and La Traviata at the New National Theatre, Tokyo.
In the seasons 2008-2011 which followed, Roberto Saccà dedicated himself more and more to the expansion of his Fach, and earned huge personal success in several debut roles. At Zürich Opera: Florestan in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio, Manolios in The Greek Passion, the Kaiser in Die Frau Ohne Schatten, and Fritz in Der Ferne Klang, and the title role in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at Dusseldorf Opera. Deserving of particular mention are his title role in Prokofiev’s The Gambler at the Royal Opera House in London under Antonio Pappano, his Walter in Weinberg’s The Passenger at the Bregenz Festival, and his title role in Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina at Hamburg Staatsoper.
Roberto Saccà opened the 2011-2012 season with a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in his debut role as Stolzing at Zürich Opera. A new production of Georges Bizet's Carmen followed in Antwerp with his debut as Don José, then concert performances of Bruckner’s Te Deum in Tel Aviv and Salzburg under Zubin Mehta, and a return to Carmen and Don José at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. In Januar 2013, he sang Bacchus in Strauss’ Ariadne Auf Naxos at Hamburg State Opera, followed by a new production of Idomeneo at Frankfurt Opera, and the role of Stolzing in two further new productions of Meistersinger in Amsterdam and at the 2013 Salzburg Festival. 2014 began with a new production of Lohengrin, in which he made his debut in the title role.
In March 2015, Roberto Saccà made his debut as Éléazar at Flanders Opera in Antwerp/Ghent in the opera La Juive by Jacques F. Halévy. In June 2015, he returned to Berlin State Opera as Bacchus in a new production of Ariadne under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher. The following Autumn, he made his house and role debut at Milan’s La Scala in the role of Tambourmajor in Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck. In Spring 2016, he sang Gustav Mahler’s Lied von der Erde with the Bamberger Symphoniker under the direction of Jonathan Nott, which was later released on CD. In late July 2016, he made an immensely successful house and role debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Loge in Wagner's Rheingold. He continued with Wagner in November 2016, singing Lohengrin at Hamburg Opera under Kent Nagano. He spent early 2017 in Strasbourg for a production of La Juive, conducted by Jacques Lacombe at the Opéra national du Rhin. In Spring 2017, he sang the Kaiser in Richard Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten, under Kent Nagano at Hamburg Opera once more. He returned to Bayreuth for the Summer to sing Wagner’s Rheingold again, before rounding off the year with a gala performance of La Juive at Bratislava Opera House. 2018 began with Ariadne at Berlin State Opera. In August 2018, he made a hugely successful debut as the eponymous hero in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello at Frankfurt Opera. The year ended with a debut role of Aegisth in Elektra at La Scala. Following a production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Théatre des Champs Élysées in March 2019, he went on to give a gala performance at Mannheim NaTheatre as Florestan in L.v. Beethoven's Fidelio. In March 2020, he made his role debut as Herodes in Salome at La Scala in Milan.
For almost three decades he has been singing on the stages of the world’s major opera houses, opposite such illustrious partners as Cecilia Bartoli, Natalie Dessay, Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming, Kiri Te Kanawa, Brigitte Fassbaender, Edita Gruberová, Vesselina Kasarova, Patrizia Ciofi, Emily Magee, Joyce DiDonato and Juliane Banse; and under the baton of Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Seiji Ozawa, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Semyon Bychkov, Christopher Hogwood and Ingo Metzmacher.
Beyond the opera, Roberto Saccà is also in great demand on the concert platform. To name but a few engagements: Robert Schumann’s Scenes From Faust, Haydn’s Creation under Adam Fischer, L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the Basilica of Santa Cecilia in Rome under Antonio Pappano, Verdi’s Requiem in Moscow under Teodor Currentzis, and performances of L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in Oviedo under Lorin Maazel, in Zürich under Zubin Mehta, in Vienna and London under Christoph von Dohnányi, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink. |
