Fadia el-Hage (Contralto)

Born: Beirut, Lebanon

The Lebanese contralto, Fadia el-Hage, started her musical career at the age of 14 as a singer with the Rahbani brothers and with Fairouz. She also worked as an actor in Lebanese television and movies. In 1984 she graduated from the University of Lebanon with a degree in psychology. She and her husband then emigrated to Germany, where she studied voice (specialization: oratorio) at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich, obtaining her diploma in 1990.

Fadia el-Hage is one of the very few singers mastering and combining the traditions of Western and Mid-Eastern classical music. Her repertoire extends from classical Arab music, European music from the Middle Ages to Contemporary music. Since 1990 she has performed as a soloist in Sarband Ensemble, Vox and L'Orient Imaginaire, specializing in Medieval and Mediterranean song.

In 1994 Fadia el-Hage returned to Lebanon, where, since her breakthrough concert at the 1998 Festival of Baalbeck, she is considered one of the Arab world's major singers.

"Die Sängerin Fadia el-Hage brachte die arabischen Einflüsse eindrucksvoll zur Geltung mit einer voluminösen Altstimme von fast männlichem Timbre, Strahlkraft und Leidenschaft … Es war eine Zeitreise, auf die sich die Gäste im Dom bereitwillig und mit innerem Gewinn ein Stück weit mitnehmen ließen." - rup, Speyerer Morgenpost, October 2005
"… eine vorzügliche Sängerin, die einen ganzen Kosmos an Gefühlen und Geschichten auszudrücken vermochte und die stilistischen Eigenheiten mit konzentrierter Verinnerlichung wie auch Expressivität zu unverstellter Ausstrahlung brachte." - Gerhard Böhm, Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, July 2002
"Fadia el-Hage had not only a beautiful and expressive voice, but was masterful in both the variety and articulation of the many ornamentsthat decorate the songs.“ - Michael Mann, Montréal, February 2000
"Nur wenigen jedoch gelingt es, die Brüche und Übergänge zwischen der Musik des Orients und Europas in einer Person so zu vereinen wie die Libanesin Fadia el-Hage." - Christoph Herrmann, Berliner Morgenpost, April 1998

Source: Sarband Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2009)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Vladimir Ivanoff

Alto

The Arabian Passion according to J.S. Bach [w/ Sarband Ensemble]

Links to other Sites

Fadia el-Hage - alto (Sarband)