This is an example of the breathtaking scenery all around us in Piobbico.
Teaching singers in a restored 11th century castle, viewing the Italian mountains and running springs, sipping cappuccino or café macchiato all day, indulging in authentic Italian food with lots of wine, performing in a 19th century opera house, getting a daily warm welcome from village residents, AND getting paid to do it? What a way to make a living!
When I first heard about the opportunity to participate in The Professional Advantage, it sounded too good to be true, and it turned out to be even better. Former Metropolitan Opera baritone Vernon Hartman approached me about participating in this program, designed to give young singers professional training, and an opportunity to perform in professional quality opera
Unlike similar programs sponsored by universities, he wanted to offer a variety of conductors (3) and attract a variety of singers from multiple countries. And the setting for the endeavor would be in the heart of the Italy, no less. He was right.
The Place
Of course our first impressions were of the fabulous scenery. Rolling hills turned into mountains. Then the bus arrived in the mountain village of Piobbico, our new home. Narrow, cobblestone streets climbed the hill to our destination, the 11th century Castello Brancaleone, which the village proudly restored to impressive condition. And from almost any vantage point we were treated to spectacular scenery.
This the ceiling of the restored chapel of Castello Brancaleone. The chapel served as my teaching studio during the program.
I was the first conductor to arrive, so I staked my claim to the castle chapel for my teaching studio, resplendent with its magnificent ceiling, three or four stories high. (Acoustics were rather loud, but one can get used to that sort of thing under the circumstances.) The upstairs ballroom was used for rehearsal space for the operas, and the rest of the time we enjoyed taking our breaks exploring the castle and imagining the lives of those who lived here so long ago.
One of the unique charms of the castle was what we called the backward clock. One of the high castle walls over the main gate contained a clock that chimed every hour and every fifteen minutes in between. (That caused a couple of sleep-interrupted nights, but again, one can get used to this sort of thing.) The clock faced outward toward the village, but the reverse side of the clock could be seen from inside the castle walls. Rather than have two sets of mechanisms, which would be difficult that long ago, the builder simply reversed the order of the numbers around the dial and hooked up interior hands that paralleled those on the outside. Very ingenious.
The staff was billeted in a wonderfully restored old hotel right in the middle of the town, and the participants were housed in comfortable apartments around the village, so we were really interspersed throughout the community. Right outside my hotel was a small “bar” (we Americans would think of it as a café) where I had my morning cappuccino and delicious pastry. Then I would begin the trek up the cobblestone streets to the castle to begin the day, taking in breathtaking views as I went. Along the way, public fountains offered us the ability to fill our bottles with fresh and pristine spring water from the mountains.
Piobbico is not large enough to have an opera house, so for the final performance we used the one located in Urbania, about 30 miles away. Opened in 1865, and recently restored, the theater was afforded a place of honor on one side of the town square. We were impressed that a small city the size of Urbania would have invested so much to create such a beautiful structure. But then again, we were in Italy.
The People
As wonderful as the scenery was, it really was the hospitality of the Piobbico residents (Piobbichese) that made our three weeks there so special. While the village hopes to increase tourism, I enjoyed the fact that we got to experience village life without the inevitable changes that come from a major tourist industry (someone compared the region to Tuscany before Tuscany became so popular). Picture workers out at the crack of dawn every morning, sweeping the streets by hand until they are immaculate.
This is the “backward” clock as seen from inside the castle.
Our first morning we were given a welcoming reception by the Mayor and many of the town residents, which began an interesting relationship for those of us who spoke little Italian, since the townspeople spoke little to no English. But we muddled through with a little patience and a lot of pointing.
Within the first few days, we developed a friendly relationship with the woman who managed the café by the hotel. She would laugh at us because we ordered cappuccino all day long. Italians switch to stronger espresso after noon. We did our best to learn the Italian words for our food and drink orders. However, when we ordered cappuccino, she would use the Italian slang term (sounded like capooch) to relay the order. When we used the slang term, she would use the full word and then turn to us with a mischievous smile.
Every Friday morning Piobbico held an open market along the river, and all of us (students and faculty) would attend the market with our Italian teachers, who would work us up and down the stalls, teaching us to request what we wanted to buy and how to haggle over the price. Those offering their wares participated with good humor and warmth.
And we were welcomed every evening at one of the two restaurants in the village for dinner. At these nicer restaurants we could select a first course of our choice of some kind of wonderful, homemade pasta, followed by a second course of meat, salad and vegetable, bottled water, and of course, wine. My favorite pasta was called “strozzapreti,” which translates to “strangled priest.” This is long strands of handmade pasta, twisted and cut into 3-inch pieces, and covered in a mushroom, asparagus, garlic and olive oil sauce. Also, Piobbico is the truffle capitol of Italy, so the carbonara with truffle sauce came in a close second!
The food was simple and delicious, and the wine, always local but fabulous, was often free. After rehearsals and dinner we would often sit outside at the bars with many of the townspeople to watch the soccer matches on TV, where we cheered for the Italian team. (Until they lost to Spain!) At every turn we were made to feel welcome and at home.
Toward the end of our three weeks, we were on the Italian schedule, eating dinner late, partaking of an espresso and an aperitif at midnight. One could get used to such a schedule.
The Program
We had 24 students in the program, impressive for the first year. More than half were from the US, but we also had students from Spain, Australia and Italy. While the majority of them were in their late 20s to mid-30s, we had several university professors in their 40s who wanted to recommit to professional performing, and two in their teens, who performed only chorus parts. (But can you imagine the impact this program will have on their futures?)
Here is my wife, Denise, sending me up the narrow cobblestone streets to begin my day of studying Italian and teaching.
Our mornings began around 9 a.m. and consisted of Italian classes. Our teachers were from the Urbania-based Scuola Italia, and they too spoke no English. That made getting clarifications a little difficult on occasion, explaining what we didn’t understand with more Italian, but they also gave us a much greater understanding of not only Italian grammar and vocabulary, but also of the inflection and cadence of the language.
Around 12:30 the Italians observe what they call “pausa,” a break that extends to around 3 p.m. It would include lunch and a nap. We didn’t do the nap part at first, but more on that later. Since we were at the top of the hill in the castle and the walls were extremely thick, we couldn’t be heard by most of the village, so we cheated a bit and would restart our activities around 2:30. This time would be spent in individual coaching sessions and voice lessons with the students.
There was another break at 5:30, during which the Italians would go home to rest up for dinner. We learned to stay up at the castle rather than huffing and puffing back down the steep cobblestone streets, only to turn right around and climb back up in the heat of the afternoon. It wasn’t uncommon to have a beer and some pretzels or chips out of the vending machine in the coolness of the high castle walls during this time.
Evening rehearsal would go from 6:30 to 8:30 or 9 p.m. Then, if we didn’t have a concert, we would have dinner. When we did have a concert in the castle courtyard, of which there were three during our stay, (we would advertise its beginning at 9 p.m., but people would wander in anytime they wanted, even at 10 p.m.) we would eat dinner after the performance. This was about the time that we started taking advantage of small naps during “pausa.”
The time came when we were bused to Urbania for the final rehearsals at the Teatro Bramante. The orchestra was bused in from Pesaro, a lovely resort town on the Adriatic Sea where Rossini lived and composed. Because of their participation in an annual Rossini Festival, the orchestra members were very proficient and accustomed to opera. Also, they were used to six-hour rehearsals starting around 6:30, with a few breaks, which would end around midnight. (Then dinner!) Since my Italian was limited, I had a little difficulty talking to them at first, but they would help me, and after a short while I got the hang of measure counting in Italian.
The most interesting aspect of these rehearsals was that the orchestra really knew the opera(s) well (we were performing Puccini’s “Tritico,” a group of three one-act operas, and the third and last one was mine to conduct). The orchestra members sang along with the singers, laughed at all of the right times, and politely corrected pronunciation of the text from time to time. I am sure that this was intimidating for the singers, and in several instances I could see the light bulb go on in their heads when they recognized that “I am singing in their language, they know what I am singing about, it has to be right.”
Finally, performance evening arrived. We had learned that, even though we would advertise a 9 p.m. performance, we might really begin at 9:15 or even later. Patrons might arrive between 9:30 and 10 p.m., whenever they felt like it. Since mine was the last of the three operas, I began conducting around a quarter to midnight. Receptions followed the conclusion of the performance, both in Urbania and Piobbico, and I ended up walking into my hotel as the sun was rising the following morning. I’m not sure, but I might be able to get used to this.
Bottom Line
It was a fabulous experience all around. But the most important part for me was gaining the understanding that, while in Italy, we were singing not just Italian opera in the Italian language for Italian-speaking people, but we were singing about their history and culture, and the people in Piobbico and Urbania recognized that and, I think, appreciated our efforts. Needless to say, I’m hoping that this turns into an annual event for me, and have already started thinking about the possible operas for next summer!
Ciao!
Would you like to know more about Piobbico? Click here for student Lindsay Simmons’ blog about the program.
