This summer, Little Songbook Opera brought the magic of opera to TidePool Bookshop with their delightful program Faery Tunes for a Midsummer Afternoon. With fairy wings, gnome hats, a tiny working piano, and boundless energy, the performers transformed the bookstore into a whimsical world of music and imagination.

The thoughtful preparation Abbey, Kevin and Riuji put into their interactive performance ahead of time was quite remarkable.  After scanning our bookshelves, they tailored their choice of songs and poetry to books at the bookstore with which they knew children would be familiar, thereby making both opera and nineteenth century poetry totally accessible to even the littlest of ones.  Once excerpts from Bad Kitty had been read, one couldn’t help but want to listen carefully to the operatic version of Kate Greenway’s poem The Cats Have Come to Tea and envision Bad Kitty at the scene, teacup in paw!

Abbey, Kevin, Riuji, and their guest performers truly understand kids. Their performances were playful, imaginative, and engaging, but never condescending. They honored children’s capacity to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of poetry and operatic voices, and the result was totally enchanting.

I’m thrilled for every child who will get the chance to experience this extraordinary group with their unique offerings. I can easily envision Little Songbook Opera lighting up schools, bookstores, libraries, festivals, and more ... and we are very grateful they found their way to TidePool Bookshop!

-Jo and Huck Truesdell, owners of TidePool Bookshop