A Voice from Assisi

AT A TIME when the music industry is in dire straits the success of Friar Alessandro Brustenghi’s debut album Voice From Assisi has come as a complete surprise. Apart from the record sales, excerpts of the album have also become favourite YouTube hits.

The album features a selection of religious classics such as Frank’s Panis Angelicus, Schubert’s Ave Maria, Bellini’s Tantum Ergo Sacramentum, Fauré’s Cantique De Jean Racine along with other pieces of a more modern repertoire, but nothing of an innovative or transgressive nature.

The only unusual thing about the album is that it features the first friar in the world to land an exclusive deal with the prestigious label Decca Records (part of Universal Music).

The success of the album is probably due to the seraphic mood it inspires. Friar Alessandro’s voice is deep, warm, serene and spontaneous. It is clear that the tenor is deeply committed to the music he is performing, and that he is completely in tune with its religious values. On hearing his voice, one is gradually transported into another, more spiritual, dimension, where the songs become devout prayers.

In the spiritual desert of modern life many people are thirsting for the spirit and the infinite. Many people are becoming weary of the loud, discordant sounds typical of much modern music, and this may explain why the album has struck a chord in so many hearts.

One day, feeling deeply moved by Friar Alessandro’s performances, I said to myself, “I’ve got to meet the man behind the voice. I want to see if the holy sounds I am hearing from this CD are issuing from an equally holy man”.

I therefore picked up the phone and contacted Friar Alessandro’s convent in Assisi. The 34-year-old friar turned out to be just as I imagined him. He made me feel welcome and I was completely at ease in his presence. I understood that the secret behind his appeal is that he comes across exactly as his songs portray him. Rather than the voice creating a myth, I had the impression that God had given this man such a suggestive voice in order that He may communicate something of His holiness through this humble human instrument. I believe this is the reason why, throughout the interview, Friar Alessandro recoiled strongly at the slightest suggestion that he was a holy man.

 

Musical ministry

 

Friar Alessandro, how does a man like yourself, who has renounced the world, come to record a CD?

It all just simply happened to me. I love music and I think I have a good voice. My task here in our friary at Saint Mary of the Angels in Assisi is that of overseeing the musical part of religious ceremonies in church. So music, and singing in particular, is my ministry, my apostolate, it is my way of reaching out to people. Through singing I invite people to prayer, to elevate their souls to God.

When I was asked to record an album with Decca I was very much taken aback at first. In fact the suggestion actually frightened me. It was wholly unexpected. Later, however, and after talking things over with my superiors, I came to realise that an album could be a powerful tool in my apostolate. I said to myself, “If God has given me the gift of a beautiful voice, which I use to draw people to Himself, than a CD produced by an influential record label can only enhance my outreach”.

It is a great satisfaction for me to be able to evangelise to such vast audiences through my music.

 

There are thousands of young tenors around the world who dream in vain of striking profitable deals with big record companies. What did you do to convince the managers of Decca to record your songs?

Absolutely nothing. In fact I had never even cherished this dream. It all happened by pure chance.

One evening, after a concert, a singing teacher informed me that there was a British gentleman who wanted to speak to me, and he introduced me to him.

I later learned that he was the manager of a recording company, and that he was travelling the length and breadth of Italy in search of new voices. I sang for him and I must have made a good impression on him because he organised a second audition in Assisi, this time in the presence of a panel of experts from Decca. After this second audition they told me that I had to record an album with them.

At this point I started to worry. You have to know that I am shy and reserved by nature, to the point that I am even easily frightened by unknown circumstances or events. Moreover, I had the impression that I was walking into something that had nothing to do with my Franciscan calling. So I consulted with my superiors and left the final decision to them.

In the end they told me that, if only one single person in the whole world would have been converted by my voice, then the whole enterprise would have been worth its while.

 

Mike Hedges

 

Who was this mysterious gentleman who first became aware of your potential?

That man was none other than Mike Hedges, the legendary audio producer/engineer. Hedges started as a tape-op at Morgan Studios in London in the late 1970s. Having graduated to engineer, he went freelance in 1981 and became an engineer/producer. Hedges’ first major collaboration was with The Cure, and resulted in their debut single Killing an Arab. Hedges then went on to release other songs with The Cure as well as with the Associates and Siouxsie and the Banshees.

His subsequent credits have included U2, Dido, The Undertones, the Manic Street Preachers, Travis, Texas, and The Beautiful South. Mike Hedges has also worked as part of the musical team for the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Between 1996 and 2000, Hedges’ work was continuously nominated for the Grammy awards for four successive years, which no other British producer has done.

One of Hedges’ latest discoveries were The Priests, a musical group of three Catholic priests from Northern Ireland. They used to sing in parishes, and Hedges catapulted them to worldwide fame.

 

Yes, I have read that Hedges was travelling around Italy in search of what he called a ‘new Pavarotti’, and that he was also struck by your modest, gentle features and your Franciscan habit. So what happened next?

The panel then organized a new audition in London in May, when representatives from the company’s subsidiaries in 25 different counties were in London for the 2012 International Decca Conference in Westminster. I sang in front of them and they were also impressed. A few days later I signed the contract with them.

 

Abbey Road

 

Is it true that the album was recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London? The same studios where, in February 1963, the Beatles recorded Please Please Me, their first album which launched their career?

Yes, the album was recorded at Abbey Road and, because the event of a Franciscan friar recording in such a location is odd to say the least, some British newspapers picked up on the news and dedicated a few articles to it, with other newspapers throughout the world soon following suit. All this created a hype which was entirely unsought for, but which was perfectly timed to coincide with the release of the album. The result is that the CD version is now sold in record shops all over the world.

 

The album is already a success. How will you employ the rights, that is the money accruing to you from the contract?

As a friar I have made a vow of poverty, and this means that I will personally never earn a single cent from all this. With my superiors we decided that the proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to fund our charitable initiatives.

 

Dealing with fame

 

In any case, though you may not earn anything from all this, you are already a star. How do you feel about this?

The truth is that nothing has changed in my life, and nothing ever will. When people say to me, “I saw you on TV last night” or “I read about you in the papers”, I do feel a bit awkward, but I am reassured by the fact that God is using my voice and my persona as the first phase of a process that can lead some people to conversion. Because of the album people now seem to confide in me more than in the past, and when they come to me I talk to them about Jesus and Francis, and they listen to me. I find all this very moving. It is a very beautiful moment in my life.

 

What can you tell us about your background?

I was born in Castiglione della Valle near Perugia in central Italy. Already as a child I was fascinated by my church organ, and the first record I received as a present, which I learned by heart, contained organ music.

At the age of 9 I began to study music in earnest. I first studied the piano and then switched to the pipe organ at the Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia, where I also studied composition.

While studying the pipe organ, a singing teacher suggested that I take up singing as well. However, my first experiences at singing did not go very well. My voice was rather weak, and after two years I was about to give up. My spiritual director, however, urged me to continue because he believed that a diploma in singing could have turned out useful to me in later life. So in the third year I put a little more effort into singing, and I was able to develop a lyrical voice. At this point I recovered a bit of enthusiasm and continued singing and studying composition.

 

God as a Person

 

When did you decide to leave the world and dedicate your whole life to God?

My vocation as a friar began a few months after my conversion. I was studying music at high school, where a lot of my schoolmates were believers. Their presence contributed a lot to my conversion. Partly because of them at the age of 16 I perceived God as a Person who was inviting me to partake in His universal love for humanity and for all creatures.

Not long after this personal encounter with God we saw a film at school on St. Francis of Assisi, and I was fascinated by the Saint’s life. I felt that I wanted to live just like him. But as I was also afraid of leading such an adventurous life I waited for another three years before tackling this challenge again.

In the meantime I continued to study music while cultivating a host of other interests as well, like science, poetry, literature and handcrafts. However, my primary longing in life remained the desire to donate myself wholly to God, so when I was 19 I asked to enter the religious life as a Franciscan. At the age of 21 I became a postulant, after which I started my novitiate and professed temporary vows for one year. However, after a crisis I returned home with the intention of becoming a hermit. I soon realised that I was under the effect of a strong temptation, but I decided to wait before making any other decision. After three years the desire to explore my calling to the Franciscan religious life stirred within me once more, so I again applied to the Order of Friars Minor; that was seven years ago.

 

And what became of your musical vocation?

With the decision to return to religious life, this time for good, I placed my life in the hands of my superiors. “You decide”, I told them. “I now just want to obey”. Some of my superiors said that I should simply forget about my musical talents and dedicate my life exclusively to prayer. Others, instead, believed that if God had given me a gift for music and singing then it meant that He intended to use this gift for the greater good. This latter opinion prevailed, and everything that happened as a consequence seems to confirm that this is indeed God’s will for me.

 

Simple friar

 

Did you become a priest at the termination of your theology course?

I do not feel called to the priesthood, at least not yet. St. Francis himself was never ordained a priest. He wanted to serve God in the humbler position of deacon.

 

What is a typical day in the life of Friar Alessandro like?

A friar’s life is centred around prayer and work. We begin the day in church at 6:30 am with Morning Prayer and continue with a meditation and the Mass. We then start our daily chores and particular tasks, which are interrupted at certain definite moments for more prayer in church. Our lives are a continuous succession of work and prayer.

 

What are your specific tasks as a friar?

The musical accompaniment of the religious celebrations. I play the pipe-organ, sing and prepare the music for the solemn celebrations. I also dedicate part of my time to receiving pilgrims. In my free time I do some woodwork. I have always liked carpentry, especially restoring old furniture or making wooden table top music stands. I am also interested in pipe-organs and look after a number of these instruments in the Province of Assisi. I also teach singing.

 

Who are your favourite musicians?

Bach, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, but I also like Michael Jackson’s songs. At the moment I am studying Björk’s music. She is a highly talented musician from Iceland, but I am also fascinated by Amon Tobin, a Brazilian musician and DJ.