NEW YORK—Bel Canto—a song, a method, or technique? New Tang Dynasty TV's International Chinese Vocal Competition has selected Bel Canto as one of two performance categories, the other being Chinese Folk Songs. Even in the West where it developed, Bel Canto is rather mysterious to the uninformed, and it also carries that mystique, albeit an honored one, among professional vocalists.
Mezzo soprano Elizabeth Russo understands Bel Canto well enough, however, to enjoy an active performance schedule and to teach it at New York's Singers Forum.
The Singers Forum calls Bel Canto "a method of vocal training based on scientific principles of breathing, support and vocal placement," and says, "almost every great singer of the past studied and used the Bel Canto method to produce beautiful, expressive singing."
Performing Bel Canto
When she performs, Ms. Russo wears the title of Diva proudly. Unlike the label slapped on temperamental pop stars, she says the traditional meaning of Diva is to share the presence of the Divine with the audience. She sings with a voice that "fills the house and keeps the audience captive to the sound."
Asked about performing, she says it's "pretty close to heaven." The give and take with the audience is what she looks for. "As soon as I gain my audience's eyes, I know I did my job." Two of her favorite operatic roles are Amneris from Aida and Watraute from Wagner's Gotterdammerung.
Part of what draws an audience to a vocal performance is "squillo"—that quality that allows the voice to float over the audience. All ethnic groups have it, to a greater or lesser degree. Different body types, she says, give out different sounds. The face shape and the size of the rib cage will determine the repertoire. Russo can perform Wagnerian roles because she has a rib cage that supports the power needed for the role.
Teaching Vocal Arts
The Singers Forum accepts students with a variety of performance goals. Student Ellen Warner demonstrated the importance of breath control and other techniques for The Epoch Times. Warner, 25, aspires to musical theater, and for the past year has taken weekly lessons with Russo.
Warner says the most difficult part of her training was "dumping the old stuff." She brings her own repertoire in learning to use the vocal muscles to bring out the best sounds .
Russo takes her role as teacher very seriously. For the past 18 years Russo has taught voice at all levels and ages. She's done her job when the student stands with confidence, the voice doesn't falter, and voice muscles are trained to feel very secure. She may take a student to a certain stage and then send them to the next level for polishing.
Not everyone can move into a classical career, but she says all deserve her complete and positive support, whether it is someone who aspires to musical theater or a student with classical talent whose next stop might be the conservatory.
Unlike pop singing, Russo says Bel Canto "uses the entire instrument," the voice. It's a slow process of helping her students discover the vocal and neck muscles that fulfill this expectation.
Whether teaching or performing in recital, this diva shares a positive energy with her audience and students alike.
Elizabeth Russo has performed with the Albany Symphony at Shaker Mountain Festival, the Danbury Opera Company and is preparing for several operatic roles—Ortrude in Wagner's Lohengrin, Dalilah in Saint-Saens's Samson et Dalilah and in Verdis Requiem. The Singers Forum calls itself "New York's Home for complete vocal training." Learn more at singersforum.org.