Welcome to the second installment of our Faculty Feature series, where we spotlight the impressive and inspiring faculty members that make Classic Lyric Arts so special.

Although we may not be able to travel to Italy right now, we can experience a slice of Italian culture by meeting Maestro Ubaldo Fabbri, Co-Director of CLA Italy. Ubaldo founded the Novafeltria academy, Voci nel Montefeltro, and formed Classic Lyric Arts with CLA Artistic Director Glenn Morton in 2009. At that time, the organization was known as La Lingua della Lirica (“The Language of Opera). As a vocal coach at CLA Italy, Ubaldo offers his expertise in the Bel Canto style and repertoire.

We asked Ubaldo to share with us one of his favorite Italian arias. Continue reading for a heartfelt analysis of a heart-wrenching aria, as well as Ubaldo’s reflections on the last 11 years of Classic Lyric Arts summers.

In his own words, Ubaldo analyzes why he loves Rossini’s iconic aria “Resta immobile”
and how it represents a turning point in Italian opera history.

Faccio fatica a scegliere un brano d’opera perché sono veramente tanti quelli che amo. Ma se devo proprio farlo lo scelgo da un’opera grandiosa che ha segnato una svolta anche nell’animo di Rossini, il Guglielmo Tell (Guillaume Tell), e cioè Resta immobile (Sois immobile). In quest’opera dalle dimensioni spropositate che scava a fondo e in maniera monumentale ogni sentimento e in cui il monumentale è dentro la musica ‘Resta immobile’ è un diamante che emana una luce intensa.

Per mettere in evidenza l’intensità emotiva necessaria al momento centrale dell’opera Rossini spoglia la musica della monumentalità e affida il pathos del momento cruciale alla linea melodica della voce che dialoga col solo violoncello sull’accompagnamento discreto dell’orchestra. La tenerezza, l’apprensione, il timore, la responsabilità del padre sono tutte nel ricamo del violoncello che con le sue volute sembra abbracciare amorosamente il figlio mentre la voce esprime un’accorata invocazione al figlio, che è una invocazione a Dio tramite il figlio.

Qui la musica di Rossini per un momento si fa realistica, accetta il realismo che aveva sempre rifiutato e ci commuove come ci commuoverà Verdi nel Rigoletto e in tante altre pagine simili. In quest’aria mi sembra di vedere in filigrana tutta la storia dell’opera italiana sia come sedimento storico che come prospettiva futura.

I struggle to choose an aria because there are truly so many that I love. But if I must, I’ll choose one from a grand opera that marked a turning point in the spirit of Rossini: il Guglielmo Tell (Guillaume Tell), namely “Resta immobile” ”(Sois immobile”). In this opera of tremendous proportions that digs profoundly and majestically into every emotion, and in which the majesty is in the music, “Resta immobile” is a diamond that emanates an intense light.

To highlight the emotional intensity necessary to the central moment of the opera, Rossini strips down the music’s majesty and entrusts the pathos of the crucial moment to the voice’s melodic line, which dialogues with the solo cello above the subtle accompaniment of the orchestra. The tenderness, the anxiety, the fear, the commitment of the father are all in the intricate lines of the cello that, with its spiraling shapes, seems to lovingly embrace the son while the voice expresses a fervent cry to the son, which is really a cry to God by means of the son.

Here, Rossini’s music becomes realistic for a moment, accepts the realism it has always rejected, and moves us just as Verdi moves us in Rigoletto and in so many other similar works. In this aria, I seem to see the entire history of Italian opera in filigree, both as historical sediment and as prospects for the future.

Listen for yourself to hear what makes this aria so moving and intricate.

With our 2020 programs cancelled, we want to keep the spirit of Classic Lyrics Arts as bright
as ever. Ubaldo shared what he has most appreciated during his time with CLA:

Io amo CLA diretto da Glenn Morton perché ogni anno arricchisce l'Accademia Voci nel Montefeltro di un gruppo di veri talenti, vocali e pianistici, coi quali tutto lo staff dei valorosi e concordi docenti riesce a fare un lavoro dettagliatissimo sulla pronuncia, sul gesto e sulla vocalità. Lavoro che permette di 'montare' diversi concerti che trascinano il pubblico italiano fino all'entusiasmo.

Inoltre spesso gli studenti hanno dei progressi così sorprendenti circa la loro vocalità che da quel momento si pongono sul livello artistico di una carriera importante. È davvero una soddisfazione per me vedere la gioia che emanano i loro occhi quando questo succede.

I love CLA, directed by Glenn Morton, because every year it enriches l’Accademia Voci nel Montefeltro with a group of true talents, singers and pianists, with whom the staff of brave and concordant teachers are able to take on incredibly detailed work on pronunciation, gesture, and voice. Work that allows them to “put up” various concerts that drive the Italian public into a passion.

Furthermore, the students often make such surprising progress in regard to their singing that, from that moment, they place themselves on the artistic level of an important professional career. It is truly satisfying for me to see the joy that emanates from their eyes when this takes place.

About Ubaldo

Maestro Ubaldo Fabbri served as musical collaborator and coach at the Rossini Opera Festival from 1986 through 2001. A member of the faculties at The Rossini Conservatory and the Accademia Rossiniana in Pesaro, Italy, he has collaborated with some of the major singers of our time, including Luciano Pavarotti, appearing in a documentary on the tenor’s career. He was also the official accompanist/coach for the Maria Callas International Competition. His master classes on the art of bel canto have been presented in the US at the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College. Additionally he is in demand internationally, offering classes in Japan, England, Belgium and Poland. He has served as the primary coach for the Italian operatic repertoire for Voci nel Montefeltro for fifteen seasons. Soon to be published in English is Maestro Fabbri’s A Practical Study of Italian Diction and Phonetics for Opera Singers.

Want to meet the rest of our fabulous faculty?

Read about French renaissance man, Raphaël Trainer, in our first faculty feature.

Visit our Italy faculty and France faculty pages to learn about
each of our international faculty members.