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To Perform
The Grow Your Own Band. Sitting, left to right: Mike and Beth Silvia. Standing: Isaiah, Simon, Jacob and Elizabeth Silvia. Courtesy photo.

THOMPSON — Grow Your Own Band.  It’s good advice.  It’s also the name of one of the acts performing at The Conncert, Broadway Live’s latest production benefiting The Hale YMCA Youth and Family Center. 
The members of this troupe are the Silvia family, and they are delighted to be joining the efforts of this fund-raising endeavor April 7 and 8 at the Center for the Arts at Woodstock Academy.
Tickets are available at the Hale YMCA or online at www.theconncert.com .
You’ll see “family” as a theme woven throughout this celebration.  It is something important to the beneficiary (the YMCA) and it is something important to the benefactors (sponsors and performers). 
The Silvia family exemplifies the excitement for both. This ensemble features Mike and Beth Silvia on vocals, banjo, and parenthood. 
Ranging between ages 18 and 28, daughter Elizabeth and sons Isaiah, Jacob, and Simon play multiple instruments including guitar, bass, drums, and piano. 
As a collective group they work around a wide array of musical genres, and they do this with a variety of different family arrangements. 
When they play together as a six-piece ensemble, they really find their groove.
Their set list for the upcoming show includes:  Elizabeth remixing a Britney Spears song for guitar, Beth’s rendition of “Find Your Grail” from the Broadway smash Spamalot, and a full-family, full-orchestra jam covering “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. 
The last number described as their “take-down-the-house” song.
James Doran Kellaway, executive producer for The Conncert, said he first learned of the Silvia family talents when he and Beth worked together on a production of Spamalot.  He said:  “I heard Beth’s powerful vocals before, and she showcased classic talent.  I just had no idea that musical skill is shared as strongly as love in her family.” The Silvia family’s excitement for this benefit concert comes from genuine appreciation for the YMCA organization.  In addition to their four children listed above, Mike and Beth have three adopted children.  Although everybody is much older and mature now, they can recall times when various YMCAs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut provided hubs of activity for a growing group.  Beth remembers it warmly. “We used to go 3 times a week,” she said.  “With 7 kids there’s not a lot you can always do as a family.  The kids could swim, we would use the open gym, grab a meal together—we could do things all together, or we could do separate activities comfortably.  I’m thrilled to be doing this event for the Y because we raised our family there.  The YMCA is family.”