Singers Bringing Music Off the Pages

By Kari Allen
Daily Herald Staff Writer

Plenty of people love the opera.

They love the music and the stories and the feeling behind the songs.

They admire the singers, whose voices can range from octave to octave. Opera fans love being able to see the raw emotion on the singer’s faces…if they can make out their faces through those special binoculars, from their seats that seem to be the length of a couple football fields away.

Well, maybe some people love to sit in one of those theater-style seats…except when a spectator who out-measures them by a foot sits right in their view.

Let’s face it; distant stages and packed audiences can make operas difficult to enjoy. But members of Festive Singers are doing their best to put a whole new spin on operas, and musicals in general.

The Naperville-based group, which is made up of about 20 area singers, is attempting to break down the walls between audience and performers.

Their plan? Since the group’s birth last March, as few as three members, sometimes more, have ventured to area fund-raising dinners and meetings for local organizations. There, they’ve brought the show to the audience, singing close to spectators who often sit around dinner tables.

You want to know that you’ve reached someone. That’s the objective of this type of music,” said Stacie Steinke, the founder of the group.

And it’s easier when you’re physically close to the audience, Steinke said.

While Festive Singers specialize in opera and music of the theater, they also recently entertained downtown Naperville shoppers with holiday carols.

Basically, the group tailors its performance to what the audience is looking for, Steinke said. Festive Singers don’t need too many rehearsals, as each member is a professional vocalist who performs in other groups, as well.

It takes a special kind of singer to join, Steinke said. Members need to be able to sing a cappella and definitely have a theater-style voice. They need to be able to project their voices, as the group doesn’t use microphones.

But, in any performance, Festive Singers want to make the audience feel the emotions that are embedded in opera or theater performances.

“This is music that moves people because it strikes a chord or a memory,” Steinke said.

“We want the public to experience music of theater-quality, of professional theater-quality, not on stage, but for their own events or functions,” she added.