David Sabella

Style: Opera; Jazz; Classical; Pop; Musical Theatre

Title: Private studio Instructor; Voice Faculty: Fordham University

Bio:

DAVID SABELLA is an award-winning singer & actor, and an internationally renowned voice teacher and author. As a male soprano (countertenor) in classical music/opera, Sabella was integral in the formation of the “American tradition” of countertenor voice in the mid 1990’s. Along with colleagues David Daniels, Brian Asawa, and Mark Crayton, Sabella is credited as one of the originators of the “American sound,” and the only one working in the popular music genres of Broadway, Pop, and Great American Songbook. Sabella may be best known for his years on Broadway in the musical CHICAGO, and as an internationally recognized countertenor whom Luciano Pavarotti publicly declared as “Excellent, not good, excellent!” Sabella began his professional performance career as a member of the now legendary all-male opera comedy troupe “La Gran Scena,” conceived by and starring Ira Siff. La Gran Scena was to opera what Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo was to ballet, spoofing all the great early and mid-century opera divas and great operatic scenes. In his time with the troupe Sabella was the inimitable “Mirella Frenzi” and sang arias/roles including Aida, Butterfly, Lakme, Semiramide, Sofie, and Adrianna Lecouvreur.

His 4+octave range also landed him opportunities in voice-over work for both Disney (“Teacher’s Pet” with Nathan Lane), and Fox Animation (“Peter Pan and the Pirates” with Tim Curry) where he played the evil villainess “Frau Brumhilde Broomhandle” and terrorized Peter and the Neverland kids with the sheer decibel of her voice, singing comic selections from Die Walkure, Carmen and Aida. (YouTube Video of this cartoon here -> https://youtu.be/nIWzJD1c9so) In 1995 Sabella made history as a winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition when Maestro Pavarotti, so moved by Sabella’s performance, stopped him before the end of his audition to publicly declare “I don’t have to hear to the end. This is excellent! Not good, excellent!” The first and only time this occurred in the history of the competition.

Sabella went on to win the The New York Oratorio Society Competition at Carnegie Hall, The Leiderkranz Competition, The daCapo Opera Competition, and the eastern finals of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, all of which propelled him into an international career as a countertenor, singing roles like Julio Cesare, Oberon (Midsummer Night’s Dream), Ottone (L’incoronazione di Poppea), and Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), as well as appearing at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall as a principle soloist on numerous occasions, including PDQ Bach’s “Three Bargain-Counter Tenors.”

On Broadway, Sabella originated the starring role of “Mary Sunshine” in the 1996 revival of CHICAGO with Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking, and Joel Grey. He remained in that show for the better part of ten years, both on Broadway and on the national tour (Las Vegas), and performed with a host of luminaries including Chita Rivera, Hall Linden, Melanie Griffith, Patrick Swayze, Linda Carter and Marilu Henner, just to name a few.

After leaving the Broadway production of CHICAGO in 2004, Sabella concentrated on both husband and family, fostering 5 children and adopting two of them. During this time, he became a highly sought-after vocal coach and “Singing Voice Specialist” (SVS), working with medical teams to assist and retrain recovering singers after injury, illness or surgery. His highly seminal research on the “High Contemporary Belt” was published as part of the 52nd Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and lead to him being featured in “So You Want to Sing CCM,” a textbook profiling 12 international teachers, credited with creating a new Contemporary Commercial Music pedagogy. Sabella is also the author (with Sue Matsuki) of “So You Want to Sing Cabaret,” (2020, Rowman & Littlefield), the unequivocable urtext on the subject of small venue solo vocal performance.

David Sabella served as a two-term president of the New York Singing Teachers’ Association (NYSTA) and as an executive director of the Broadway Theatre Project. In addition to Fordham University, he has served on the music theater voice faculties at Montclair State University, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, CAP21 Studio, the New School-Mannes Precollege program, and SUNY at Purchase College, and New Paltz. Additionally, Sabella has been a faculty member / workshop presenter at the Voice Foundation’s annual symposium, and has conducted masterclasses, faculty training workshops, and music theater pedagogy seminars throughout the contiguous United States, Alaska, and South America. Sabella is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). He presented his groundbreaking research study “Beyond Belt: Acoustics and Mechanics of the Contemporary Commercial Belt” at the 2012 NATS National Conference, which has since been cited in several other research studies and doctoral theses. He holds certification in NYSTA’s Professional Development Program, as a Distinguished Voice Professional, and is regarded as a "Singing Voice Specialist," working in tandem with several New York otolaryngologists and speech-language pathologists who specialize in care of the professional voice. Returning to solo vocal performance in 2015, Sabella has performed in concert venues throughout the country including Jazz at Lincoln Center (Rose Hall), Feinstein’s/54 Below, Birdland Theater, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Urban Stages, Pangea, Judy’s Chelsea and Don’t Tell Mama. Since 2015 he has also starred Off-Broadway in Jules: The Julian Eltinge Story, and The Phillie Trilogy, for which he won the Fresh Fruit Festival award for “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play.” He is also the 2022 MAC Award winner for “Major Male Artist.”

Voice Type: Countertenor

Music Styles Taught: Opera; Jazz; Classical; Pop; Musical Theatre

Availability: I am available as a performer; I am currently accepting private students; I offer lessons in a group environment; I have a wait-list for private lessons; I am available as a clinician or presenter; I accept students through a college or university program

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