Stephan Forté
French guitarist virtuoso, mastermind of the neo-classical prog metal band Adagio.
In 1997, one year after he had been graduated from the famous music school CMCN, Stéphan Forté composed his first instrumental demo Visions, which is considered to be the starting point of the Adagio adventure. This demo, being very clearly Neoclassical-oriented, quickly helped Stephans name to be noticed among the guitaristic community and allowed him to sign his first endorsement deals with Godin (guitars) and Rocktron (effects).
In June 1998, he opened for Yngwie Malmsteen and was contacted by producer Chris Tsangarides (Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Gary Moore...) who wished to work with him. The same year he finally started a showcase tour for Rocktron and his new sponsor: Lag Guitars.
In 1999, Olivier Garnier, former artistic director at CNR Music (Angra, Symphony X...), asked Stephan to compose some new material with vocals. Stunned by the virtuosity of the guitar-keyboard interplay, Garnier sent Stéphan to Philadelphia, PA (USA) to record and eventually form a band with Ukrainian keyboard player Vitalij Kuprij, who was then recording for the well-known Shrapnel Records label (Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen...). The two musicians spent two weeks together working, but gradually became aware of their different views on music. Finally they decided to put an end to their collaboration after they had recorded a four tracks demo.
Stéphan came back to France to finish his compositions and then recruited Dirk Bruinenberg, Franck Hermanny, David Readman and Richard Andersson to record the first Adagio album with producer Dennis Ward. Sanctus Ignis was released on March 2001 and received great success in Japan and in France where it was voted album of the month in the Club Dial.
While he was giving a masterclass, Stephan met Kevin Codfert, a young keyboard player who wanted the guitarist to listen to his demo. Very impressed by the talent displayed, Stephan finally asked Kevin to be a permanent member of the the band.
Afterwards, Stéphan entered a dark and difficult period of time which would influence his work and give birth to the Underworld album. Because of the strong orchestral and choral aspect of the music, it was obvious for Stephan that he would record with a massive choir ensemble. After three month of intense rehearsals, the Ensemble Vocal De Lyon conducted by Guy Cornut, was recorded by Dennis Ward at the splendid Temple Des Terreaux in Lyon. The five musicians worked very hard as the parts were quite complex and Underworld was finally released in September 2003 in Europe and Japan (Avalon/ Marquee).
In order to have a more stable and balanced personal life, Dirk chose to leave the group and stop playing music for a while.
Franck asked Eric Lebailly, an awesome drummer from Marseille with whom hed had played with in numerous occasions, to audition for the band. From the start, the guys knew he was the drummer they needed, and after a few rehearsals, Eric officially joined Adagio and played in Montereau (near Paris), on 8th November 2003 for Adagios first concert. Many fans were present at Adagios first tour in February 2004. The Paris & Strasbourg concerts were recorded and became Adagios first live album entitled A Band in Upperworld-Live.
Due to management disagreements, Adagio and David Readman parted ways during the summer 2004.
Adagio had to play US Prog Power V Festival in September so it was urgent to find a replacement. The group made an announcement on the internet and demos were sent by a lot of singers from all over the world. The group finally chose a Brazilian singer, Gus Monsanto after they heard his splendid interpretation of Chosen. Gus arrived in France on 29th August to start rehearsals and made his debut concert with Adagio in Toulouse for a non-profit concert against child abuse. A few days later, while Yvan was raging in Florida, the five musicians flew to the States where they gave a splendid concert in front of 2,000 people in a sold out Prog Power Festival. The Underworld Tour finally took an end in December 2004, after a few concerts in Holland (with Devin Towsend) and in Spain.
Stephan has since released an instructional DVD called "Underworld Solos", and finished two more Adagio albums: "Dominate" and "Archangels In Black", the later with a new singer, Chris Palin. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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