Paolo Fantin, born in 1981 in Castelfranco, completed his secondary education at the art institute in Venice. In 2004 he graduated in Stage Design at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and the next year he specialized in set design and stagecraft.
In May 2011 he wins the prestigious music critics’ prize “Franco Abbiati” for the scenes of Sigismondo (Pesaro, Rossini Opera Festival), Don Giovanni (Venezia, Teatro la Fenice) and Madama Butterfly (Turin, Teatro Regio).
Among 2006 and 2007 Paolo Fantin sets the stage of Britten’s The little sweep (directed by S.Patarino) and of Amahl e gli ospiti notturni in Rovigo and played also at Grand Theatre de Corbeil-Essonne in France; Sette piani, theatre work by Buzzati’s book (directed by P.Valerio) in Verona.
In 2004 he collaborates with Damiano Michieletto for the staging of Benjamin Britten’s The Little Sweep produced by Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese, and then, together with the same director, he presents to Berlin Komische Oper and to “Ringaward”, an international award sponsored by Graz Opera House, a scene design for Le nozze di Figaro, arriving among the first nine finalists.
This is the beginning of an artistic partnership that brings Fantin and Michieletto to work together on very important productions in some of the world most prestigious theatres.
Between 2005 and 2010 sets the stage for Pasolini’s Il Friuli and for La Bella e la Bestia, world premiere with music by M.Tutino and libretto by G.Di Leva, in Modena; at ROF he prepare the scenes for La gazza ladra, show awarded with Premio Franco Abbiati 2008, for La scala di seta, played also at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, and for Sigismondo, work for which Fantin is awarded the Premio Franco Abbiati 2011, together with costume designer Carla Teti, for the best scenes and costumes; he also sets the scenes for Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, for Daugherty’s Jackie’O at Lugo Opera Festival, a coproduction with Bologna; He works on Lehar’s Das Land des Lächelns in Triest and he gains a great success with the scenes of Lucia di Lammermoor in Zurich. He designs the set of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at Teatro la Fenice in Venice, of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at San Carlo in Naples, of Luisa Miller and of a new production of Il Corsaro in Zurich. Moreover, he works on Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Grand Théatre in Geneve, Madama Butterfly in Turin, Elisir d’Amore at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, a coproduction with Teatro Real in Madrid, Così fan tutte at New National Theatre in Tokyo, The Greek Passion in Palermo.
Among the production on which he worked since 2011, are to be mentioned Don Giovanni, Nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte in Venice, La Bohème in Salzburg and Shangai, Puccini’s Trittico in Vienna and in Copenhagen, L’elisir d’amore in Madrid and in Graz, Poliuto in Zurich.
In 2013 began with a new production of Un ballo in maschera at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Falstaff for the Salzburg Festival, Scala di seta at Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
He design also scenes for drama production like Il ventaglio of Carlo Goldoni, L’ispettore generale of Gogol, Divinas Palabras and soon of Die Dreigroschenoper always with con Damiano Michieletto.
Among his recent and future engagements: Idomeneo at Theater an der Wien in Vienna and in Tokyo, Rake’s progress in Liepzig and Venice, Cenerentola at the Salzburg Festival, Guillaume Tell and Palermo, Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci in London, Il viaggio a Reims in Amsterdam, Die Zauberflöte in Venice, Un ballo in maschera in Bologna, Così fan tutte in Barcellona, L’elisir d’amore in Bruxelles, Otello at Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Cendrillon at Komische Oper in Berlin, Donna del lago in Pesaro and Liège, Samson et Dalila in Paris, the new opera Acqua granda in Venice, Rigoletto in Amsterdam, La damnation de Faust in Rome, Die Lustige Witwe in Venice, Midsummer Nigth’s Dream at Theater an der Wien, Don Pasquale in Paris, Macbeth in Venice, Der Ferne Klang in Frankfurt, Alcina in Salzburg, Salome and Intolleranza 1960 with Erwartung in Milan, Les Contes d’Hoffman in London, Der Rosenkavalier in Bruxelles.
January 2020