The professional soprano Genevieve Thiers enjoys singing for kids, because of the big smiles on their faces. On Wednesday evening, May 13th, Ms. Thiers along with Joseph Francavilla on piano performed for Countryside Montessori School kids and their parents in Northbrook. It was the final of three A Little Night Music concerts of the school year. Mr. Francavilla is Countryside's piano teacher as well as a soloist and seasoned performer.
Head of School, Annette Kulle, conceived of A Little Night Music more than five years ago. "My original idea was to expose the families to the talent of Mr. Francavilla." The concerts are free, made possible by the school's Jena G. Fund. Mr. Francavilla puts together a 45-minute program to appeal to children of all ages that teaches them "concert etiquette and exposes them to music from many eras in history. When I say of all ages," he explains, "I mean students as young as 2 or 3 are welcome." Before the concert begins, Annette Kulle clearly states expectations. All are welcome to stay as long as they are enjoying the concert and not disruptive. Front rows are reserved for the youngest children, who might get restless. If a child becomes unruly, all parents are encouraged to help.
When selecting the program for these concerts, Mr. Francavilla tries to "portray composers from long ago as real people. All of the world's most famous composers began as children attending their first performances," he says. Over the years, he has invited a cellist, harpist, oboist, flutist, and saxophonist. Wednesday evening's performance is the second vocalist.
More than one little girl's eyes widen when tall, elegant Ms. Thiers enters the gym-converted-into-theater, wearing a deep blue satin gown with a black boa draped across her shoulders, and a huge smile. How can the children and their parents not return that smile? The program consists of eight songs. Before beginning, "When I Have Sung My Songs" by Ernest Charles, Ms. Thiers explains it is a parlor song and says, "I hope you kids won't think it's too mushy." All are breathless at this soprano's strong, stunning voice.
Ms. Theirs takes a break for the third selection, in which Joseph Francavilla delights the audience with "Cosmic Wind" by George Crumb for amplified piano, in which he never once plays a key! Instead, after warning listeners not to try this on their own, he uses a wire brush on the strings inside the piano. It is an eerily beautiful song. "These are not typical children's concerts," Mr. Francavilla says, "I try to expose them to music not only by the great composers of previous eras like Bach and Mozart, but also more contemporary composers."
After "Cosmic Wind," Ms. Thiers returns to her position in front of the piano, ready to resume, when horrors, a cell phone rings. Annette Kulle later says she realized she didn't tell the audience to turn off their phones! But the phone doesn't belong to an audience member. It belongs to Ms. Thiers. So much for concert etiquette. The performer removes her cell phone from the piano, looks at the number of the caller, and with a glance of consternation to the audience says, "I'm sorry. I have to get this."
"Hello. Hello," she sings into the cell phone. "I'm not feeling very well." By the time Genevieve Thiers lightly coughs into the phone, the audience has caught on. This is the fourth selection, "Telephone Aria" by Gian Carlo Menotti, which includes the lyrics "How is the dog?" plus staccato singing that transforms into peals of laughter. After the song ends, Ms. Thiers, sporting a coy smile, says, "Sorry," to the audience. When she announces the song is part of the Menotti opera she will perform in Elgin the first two weekends in July, at least one eight-year-old begs, "Please, please, can we go?" of her mom.
The concert holds a full range of emotions. Ms. Thiers removes her fanciful boa and her expression is somber when she sings from the second movement of Henryk G�recki's Symphony No. 3, a piece composed in 1976 from a poem written during World War II. It is, Ms. Theirs says, the first song she's performed in Polish. In the audience is mom of two students, Majka Jaromin from Poland, who later says, "It was hard to tell that she's not a native. It brought up tears in my eyes."
After the final bow, children are encouraged to talk with the performers, and occasionally allowed to play instruments. An endnote to this last performance of the school year, aside from that one errant cell phone, etiquette was exemplary. All the children stayed the entire performance. Their only sounds were laughter and applause.
