Tucson song fest ends first leg with tenor's debut in emotional world premiere

Composer Jimmy López Bellido sat at the far end of the second row at Holsclaw Hall Thursday night wearing that nervous look of a father about to see his kid hit his first home run.

On the Holsclaw stage, tenor Michael Fabiano teed up the first song of López’s song cycle “Quiet Dreams,” the fifth and final commission of the Tucson Desert Song Festival‘s Wesley Green Composing Project.

“An orchid has flowered/from a boy’s ear,” Fabiano sang as pianist Laurent Philippe played the soft melodies of López’s emotionally-charged music.

“Quiet Poems,” the latest collaboration between López and Cuban playwright/poet Nilo Cruz, was a heart-crushing journey to immigration’s frontlines, a view of the politically-charged issue through the eyes of children held in captivity. The texts were raw and gut-wrenching with music that matched the emotional intensity, growing from somber and reflective to fits of anxiety verging on outbursts of anger.

In the opening song “The Orchid Boy,” Fabiano, a renowned tenor whose career is largely centered in Europe, brought out the fears and confusion of a young boy caught between innocence and a cruel, cold world. His powerful tenor reached soaring fever-pitched highs and near baritone lows, expressing the anger of a young girl’s brutal soul-crushing assault in “Tango for a Rapist” before softening when he channeled a young girl looking for solace in the darkness of night in “Lullaby for the Insomniac Child” and another girl daydreaming about life outside her prison walls in the dramatic final song “The Girl of the Clouds.”

López’s music matched the mood of the text, with tempos that grew slightly frenzied to convey a sense of tension and frustration and soft and melodic with the promise of hope.

Throughout the performance, López didn’t take his eyes off Fabiano, and when the cycle had ended, he seemed to exhale, like a father does when his kid hits a base run and makes it safely to first.

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López joined Fabiano and Philippe on stage and the audience nearly filling the hall gave the trio a standing ovation, with more than a few people shouting “bravo!”

“Quiet Poems” came in the middle of Fabiano’s recital, sponsored by Arizona Opera as the finale to the opening leg of the 2024 Tucson Desert Song Festival. He opened the evening with two songs from Puccini, who is quite possibly Fabiano’s go-to composer judging from the way Puccini’s thrilling high notes slipped effortlessly from his lips. Fabiano, making his Arizona debut, has the uncanny gift of being able to project so loudly that you find yourself looking for some hidden mic. It was so loud during his performance of Paolo Tosti’s “Non t’amo píù” that an older woman in the third row put one finger in her ear; she ended up moving to the back of the hall for the concert’s second half.

As Philippe played the aggressive gallop of Barber’s “I Hear an Army” from his Three Songs Op. 10, Fabiano’s lyric tenor took a dive into baritone range when he pleaded “My love, my love, why have you left me alone!” The final word hung in the air and took on the resonance of bitterness and betrayal.

Fabiano closed out his recital with a series of songs by 19th century French Romantic composer Henri Duparc before asking the audience if they’d like to hear him do what he does best.

“I’m an opera singer so do you want to hear an aria?” he asked to a resounding burst of animated applause.

After performing “Vesti la giubba” from “Pagliacci,” one of the most recognizable arias in opera, Fabiano took a sip of water than raised two fingers before nodding to Philippe that they would do a second aria — “Kuda, kuda, vi udalilis” from the dueling scene in “Eugene Onegin.” The audience was still applauding when Fabiano raised three fingers. When he announced that he would sing “E’ la solita storia” from “L’Arlesiana,” there was a collective gasp of excitement from the audience that led to a prolonged standing ovation at the end of the song.

Thursday’s concert closed out the first leg of the 2024 Tucson Desert Song Festival, which picks up again March 2 with Arizona Theatre Company’s production of Terrence McNally’s “Master Class.” Visit tucsondesertsongfestival.org for details.