West Dundee child pianist finds success

Frankie Bisconti, a child pianist from West Dundee, knows he wasn't supposed to be born.

Three weeks into her pregnancy in 1998, his mother, Lynette Bisconti, was diagnosed with breast cancer and given three years to live. Doctors were so concerned the chemotherapy would hurt her unborn child they advised her to terminate her pregnancy.

Bisconti said that was never an option.

“In the absence of certainty, there are decisions that are made with your heart,” Bisconti said.”The decision to keep him was made with my heart.”

During her pregnancy, Bisconti went through chemotherapy and ultimately had one of her breasts removed. She asked that doctors take the other breast as well for her own peace of mind.

Bisconti, now president of Gateway for Cancer Research in Schaumburg, has been cancer-free ever since. It was important to share that story with her son, she said, because it's a part of who he is.

Frankie, 13, was born without any health problems and music has been in his life since before he was born.

Lynette and father Frank Bisconti Sr. sang to Frankie while he slumbered in his mother's womb. Their favorites were “You are My Sunshine” and “Let There Be Peace on Earth” — both of them play piano as well.

Bisconti became aware of her son's musical talents by the time he was 2. One day she was listening to classical music in the car and he started singing parts of the songs.

At 4, she and her husband signed Frankie up for piano lessons.

“As an instrument, I like just the creative aspects of it,” Frankie said of the piano. “I feel the piano ... you can tell so many stories.”

His main focus is on classical music, but he's starting to look into jazz and into writing his own music. His favorite song to perform is “Rondo Alla Turca” by Mozart.

“Frankie is an excellent piano player for his age,” his teacher Tatyana Dimovska said in an email interview. “Frankie's passion and his desire to practice and learn make him one of my best students.”

The young pianist had his first school recital a few months ago in which he played Mozart and Beethoven sonatas at Elgin Academy, where he's an eighth-grader. Frankie was also invited to play at a charity gala in Barrington.

“A concert is the pinnacle and goal of the piano player it is like a final exam where one shows to himself and to the world how one mastered the material given to him,” said Dimovska, Frankie's piano teacher for the past three years. “A live performance is something special for the artist. The artist here opens his soul for everybody to see.”

Dimovska hails from Macedonia and briefly studied under Evgeny Timakin, who launched the career of Ivo Pogorelich, a Serbian pianist.

Frankie has thoughts of turning his piano playing into a professional gig.

“It's kind of just a passion,” Frankie said. “I enjoy it, it's fun and I do it. That's really all there is to it.”

His parents aren't putting any pressure on him to pursue it one way or the other.

“We want him to love it because we want him to have it for the rest of his life,” his mother said. “It's just a beautiful gift to have.”