Lebanese and Belgian bass, Shadi Torbey was born in Sieburg (Germany) in 1976. He graduated in Roman literature as well as in Cultural Management at the University of Brussels. With Ludovic de San he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. His vocal training was completed at the Opéra Studio of La Monnaie and with José van Dam at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth.

He had the privilege to work with conductors such as William Christie, Bruno Bartoletti, Marcello Viotti, Patrick Davin, Eduardo Lopez-Banzo, Paul McCreesh, Evelino Pidò, Philip Pickett, Roy Goodman, Laurence Equilbey and such stage directors as Stéphane Braunschweig, Robert Carsen, Antonio Latella, Gérard Corbiau, Pier-Luigi Pizzi, Karl-Ernst and Ursel Herrmann…

In the oratorio field, Shadi Torbey has sung the solo part in St. John Passion (J.S. Bach), The Creation, Stabat Mater (Haydn), Requiem (Mozart), The Messiah, Judas Macchabeus (Handel), Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini) as well as in Das Paradies und die Peri (Schumann). He appeared as Abner in Handel’s Athalia under Paul McCreesh at the Adadèmie d’Ambronnay, in Toulouse, Saint-Etienne and Tours. He sang Abramo in Scarlatti’s Cantata per la Notte di Natale with El Ayre Español under Eduardo Lopez Banzo in Zaragoza, and was the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah under Roy Goodman with the Chor pro musica in Graz. He also participated in Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.

He has performed many song and Lieder recitals with pianists Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Fritz Schwinghammer and Eugene Asti, and recorded a CD of Mélodies Françaises by Séverac, Meyerbeer and Saint-Saëns for Cypres.

On the opera stage he sang Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) in Brussels, Leporello (Don Giovanni) in Rouen, Le Tambour Major (Le Caïd) in Metz and Lord Rochefort (Anna Bolena) in Lyon, Paris and Dortmund. He appeared as Ministre Boréen and covered the role of Borré for Laurent Naouri in Rameaux’ opera Les Boréades with the Ensemble Les Arts Florissants under William Christie at the Opéra de Paris as well as in London and New York. Shadi sang the part of Caronte in Monteverdi’s Orfeo under Philip Picket at the Opéra de Lyon, and appeared in the title-role of Mattheson’s opera Boris Goudenow in Saint-Petersburg, Moscow and Hamburg with the ensemble Early Music Russia under Andrej Reshtin.
Shadi Torbey also appeared as Carrasco in Mendelssohn’s Die Hochzeit des Camacho with the Royal Liverpool Orchestra, the part of Alidor in concert performances of Liszt’s opera Don Sanche in London and at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the European Union Youth Orchestra under Laurent Pillot, and as Isménor in a new production of Rameau’s Dardanus by the European Opera Centre and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elias with the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011/12 Shadi makes his debut in the title-role of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Aachen Theatre.