Already during his studies in vocal music at Toho Gakuen School of Music (Tokyo), Tenor Noriyuki Sawabu had been finalist in the International Competition for the Performance of the German “Lied” in 1994 and received a scholarship by Rotary International, both for studying vocal music in the class of Professor Rudolf Knoll at the prestigious Mozarteum Salzburg as well as for a full study in musicology at Salzburg University. This was followed by further studies at Anton Bruckner University in Linz and a scholarship at Richard Wagner Foundation in Bayreuth.
Immediately after his first stage performance as “Belmonte” in Mozart´s “Abduction from the Seralio” at Hauzenberg Music Festival, numerous engagements followed at Austria State Theatre Linz, State Theatre Bad Hall, New Opera Vienna, Castle Theatre Rheinsberg , Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre, Rumanian National Opera, Bucharest, Theatre Wuppertal, Bruckner Festival, Linz, Vienna International Festival “KlangBogen”, Toscana Opera Festival and Offenbach Festival.
From 2005 until 2012 Noriyuki Sawabu was member of the permanent ensemble at Theatre Vorpommern in Stralsund, performing numerous roles, as e.g. Nemorino (The Elixir of Love), Nadir (The Pearl Fishers), Lindoro (The Italian Girl in Algiers), Pedrillo (The Abduction from the Seralio ), Jaquino (Fidelio), Italian Singer (The Knight of the Rose), Steersman (Flying Dutchman), Pong (Turandot), Alfred (The Bat ), Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow) und Sou-Chong (Land of Smiles).
In 2013 Noriyuki Sawabu drew attention by singing the leading role (Julius Wander) during the world premiere of the opera Men are More Cunning than Women, or The Happy Bear Family by Richard Wagner in Berlin. International engagements led him e.g. as Remendado (Carmen) to the Slovenian DramaOperaBalet Theatre in Maribor (with a subsequent tour through Japan) and as a guest performer singing Brighella (Ariadne at Naxos) at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo. During the season 2014/15 he was performing the role of the First Jew (Salome) at the at Theatre Wuppertal .
The work of the artist earned high appreciation also in his home country: In 2015 as well as in 2017 he had the honor to sing his own compositions to ancient Japanese lyric dedicated to the Japanese Emperor during the traditional Japanese Umizukuri Festival at the Japanese Imperial Court.
Since mid 2018 Noriyuki Sawabu has been Visting Professor for Music and Arts in Toyama.
His Opera 『家持紀行』(„A Diary of Yakamochi“) was first performed in 2018 (Anniversary Year in commemoration of the great Japanese poet Ōtomo no Yakamochi (718-758) in his native city and place of his creative work), Toyama.
In 2019 he received the award of gratitude for his outstanding work and service in the field of music and performing arts in Himi and he was appointed Ambassador of the City of Himi for the international exchange of music and performing arts.
In addition to his extensive work on the opera stage, Noriyuki Sawabu has also made a name for himself in the field of concerts. He received excellent reviews for the Evangelist in both of the two great Passions by Bach as well as for the tenor parts in Mozart´s Requiem, Schubert´s Mass, Haydn´s Creation and Beethoven´s Symphony No. 9. Other highlights of his work in the concert field were the part of Johannes in the seldom performed Oratorio The book with Seven Seals by Franz Schmidt as well as the tenor part in César Franck´s The Beatitudes.
Ever since the beginning of his career the Italian and German scores have been the core of Noriyuki Sawabu´s artistic work. He currently concentrates on special character roles, as e.g. Richard Wagner´s (David, Mime, Loge), Richard Strauss´ (Brighella, Jew) and Alban Berg´s (Captain, Alva), as well as with absolute dedication, since being blessed with perfect pitch, on contemporary works.
So, he was singing in the Berlin State Opera (Schiller Theatre) during season 2015/16 Jeržy in the contemporary opera Story by Oscar Strasnoy as well as the parts of Johannson and the Colonel in The Ghost Sonata by Aribert Reimann in 2017. In 2018 he was performing as Tenor1 in The seven Mortal Sins by Kurt Weil and Europereas by John Cage at the State Theatre Braunschweig and as L'Abate di Chazeuil in the Opera Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea at the Operahouse in Halle.
In 2019 he was singing in Babylon at the Berlin State Opera under the direction of Daniel Barenboim as well as Gastone in Tosca at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste under the direction of Fabrizio Maria Carminati. He was also performing at the Vienna State Opera during the Japan Cultural Festival 2019, in commemoration of the 50th year of diplomatic relationships between Japan and Austria.
The artist is living in Berlin (Germany).
Contact:
Breite Strasse 19, D-14199 Berlin
Mobile: +49 174 177 9592
Mobile: +81 90 4683 0945
Email: Tenor@sawabu.com