“Fantastic!”
— Howard Stern
“Phenomenal!”
— Howie Mandel
"That might've been the longest standing ovation we've had!"
— Nick Cannon
"Just Gave Us Chills!"
— MTV News
"The operatic trio FORTE took Carnegie Hall by vocal storm... [FORTE] riveted the audience with phenomenal performances."
— MasterClassLady.com
ABOUT FORTE
FORTE is a recording, classical crossover operatic-pop trio comprising tenors Fernando Varela, Josh Page, and Sean Panikkar. The trio is on a mission to introduce opera crossover to new audiences.
Besides headlining in Las Vegas and Opera houses across the country, FORTE has performed at some of the most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, the White House, and numerous galas.
FORTE's self-titled debut album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Classical Albums chart. Their second album, The Future Classics, presented their operatic take on contemporary popular songs and featured an original piece using the theme music composed for Game of Thrones. A music video version of this original opera tribute to the acclaimed HBO Series went viral on YouTube and became the first of any work to be celebrated by the show itself, The Metropolitan Opera, and MTV News.
HOW FORTE WAS FORMED
In 2013, after weeks of preparation online, the trio first appeared on NBC's America's Got Talent, having met in person only two days before their first performance together. FORTE finished in fourth place. Following their last performance, FORTE accepted a recording contract offered by representatives of Columbia Records, who were waiting for them offstage.
ABOUT FERNANDO VARELA
FERNANDO VARELA sets the standard for what true musicianship is all about, combining a unique voice and an engaging passion which lights up the stage. Trained with some of opera’s renowned classical icons, VARELA toured worldwide with Grammy Award-Winning producer David Foster and performed amongst some legendary superstars including Lionel Richie, Gladys Knight, Sarah Brightman, Babyface, Peter Cetera, Neil Diamond, Benny Andersson, Seal, Jewel, and Chaka Kahn. VARELA is signed with Universal Music Group and released his solo debut album Vivere, accompanied by his debut PBS Special, Coming Home. He is currently working on his follow-up album with producer Emilio Estefan.
ABOUT JOSH PAGE
JOSH PAGE started his career after an impromptu duet with Josh Groban at Madison Square Garden Arena went viral, gaining well over 15 Million views across the internet. In addition to his work with FORTE, PAGE and his brother have a folk/pop duo called Brothers Page with over 1.5 Million Followers on Instagram, making them the most followed singer-songwriter duo in the world.
ABOUT SEAN PANIKKAR
According to Opera News, SEAN PANIKKAR is "one of the stars of his generation… His voice is unassailable—firm, sturdy and clear, and he employs it with maximum dramatic versatility.”
SEAN PANIKKAR sang at the Salzburg Festival in a new production of Henze’s The Bassarids conducted by Kent Nagano and in the lead role of Glass’s Satyagraha at Los Angeles Opera conducted by Grant Gershon. Other appearances include a return to the Festival d’Aix en Provence for a new production of Weill’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny directed by Ivo van Hove and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen as well as performances of La Bohème at Pittsburgh Opera and Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Recently, PANIKKAR was featured with Ragnar Bohlin and the San Francisco Symphony, Kent Nagano and the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. An alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship, PANIKKAR holds Master’s and Bachelor degrees in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan.
