Classic Lyric Arts will perform at the Kellogg Music Center on the Bard College campus in Simon’s Rock. Photo courtesy of Bard College, Simon’s Rock
GREAT BARRINGTON – What do the Périgord region in France, the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy and the Berkshire hills in Massachusetts have in common? All three are home to Classic Lyric Arts summer training programs for singers and collaborating pianists. Since 2009, the CLA has been providing language training for aspiring opera singers in France and Italy, and this month will conduct its first summer program at the Berkshires at Bard College in Simon’s Rock.
From 5 to 10 July, the CLA will be hosting recitals featuring 2,022 Classic Lyric Arts participants at the Berkshires. Each recital will feature selections from Mozart’s operas, including The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Cosí fan tutte and La Clemenza di Tito.
What is language vocal training? It starts with native teachers of French and Italian classical repertoire with an emphasis on diction, musical style and spoken language. It culminated in 13 worldwide appearances in 2022: three in France, three in Italy, three at the Berkshires and four in New York.
Artistic Director Glenn Morton and Co-Director of CLA Italy Ubaldo Fabbri launched Classic Lyric Arts in 2009 after meeting in New York ten years earlier. Prior to this meeting, Morton had become one of New York’s most sought-after vocal coaches. (He now teaches at Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, New School for Music, and Juilliard School.)
Morton taught Italian Diction at Mannes College for several years and was inspired by Fabbri’s approach to teaching vocal technique, an approach that focused primarily on the innate musicality of the Italian language – its basic sound set. Fabbri noted that “the beauty of the sound was shaped by vowels, expression by consonants, communication through the shape of a phrase”.
“I realized,” Morton writes, “that his teaching was unlike anything I’d heard before. Everything comes from language. ” Over the years, Morton rewrote Fabbrie’s lessons and took a new approach to his own teaching.
Eight years after they met, Morton and Fabbri created a summer program for young singers to be held at the academy led by Fabbri in Novafeltria, Italy. The aim of the school is to investigate the relationship between the Italian language and Belcant singing.
The CLA expanded in 2012 to include a program in France. Morton tells the story: “One of my longtime friends and colleagues, Ken Benson, introduced me to the tenor Stéphane Malbec Sénéchal, who in turn introduced me to his adoptive father, Michel Sénéchal, one of the most famous French tenors of the 20th century. “
The CLA teaching staff has ties to opera theaters such as La Scala, Paris Opera, Covent Garden, The Metropolitan Opera and others.
The schedule of Classic Lyric Art 2022 Berkshire performances is as follows:
All CLA performances are held at the Kellogg Music Center, Bard College, Simon’s Rock (map) and run from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM. More information here.
The CLA’s international schedule for 2022 is now available.
