Grown men have been known to get teary eyed, and even hardened cynical hearts can’t help but feel a momentary twinge of human emotion when they hear Alexa Isobel Kaufman sing.

At 11, the youngest member of the Philippine Opera Company is blessed with a clear, pure soprano.

But it’s her delivery that really gets to the audience. Alexa sings from the heart, and with such evident joy that it shines through, even on the cell-phone video clips posted on social media.

“Someone said he could really feel her soul when she sings,” says proud mom Mai Kaufman.

Alexa has sung for pensioners in British nursing homes, abandoned grandmas in Manila, and the children of the Aeta and the T’boli.

She’s given private performances for National Artist Arturo Luz, the Benedictine nuns at St. Scholastica’s, and even that crusty old geezer in Malacañang.

She even managed to join in at the recent Taal Jazz Festival with her version of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Passionate

“She’s passionate about singing. This is what she really enjoys doing,” says Mai. “You know how kids are—they want to be famous. But she doesn’t even think about these things. She just wants to sing. I think there’s purity in that.”

No wonder people are beating a path to the Kaufmans’ door, including the producers of “The Voice UK” with an invitation to join the world-famous talent competition—which the family politely turned down.

“She’s just a kid,” says Mai. “We want her to enjoy her childhood.”

We are reminded of that fact when Alexa breezes in for the interview on rollerblades wearing a white lace dress, a mere slip of a girl sipping from her green tea Frappuccino.

“Yes, that’s what I love about singing,” Alexa chirps in. “My goal is really to touch hearts and change lives. Some people are smiling so nicely, and some people, they’re, like, crying. I feel really happy knowing that I contributed something to their lives.”

Hobby

Having grown up listening to her parents’ classical and jazz records, Alexa started singing when she was 4.

“It started out as a hobby, ’cause at home I would sing literally every hour, every single day,” she recalls.

“Even before I started singing for people, I would be singing in bed while reading. I guess it was just part of me. I just had this thing of wanting to sing everywhere.”

Alexa’s not much for gadgets—she doesn’t have a cell phone—but she loves drawing and painting, and reading. Her favorite authors at the moment are Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton.

While most kids her age are just getting into Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift or the latest K-pop idols, Alexa remains keen on the classics.

“The first song I learned was ‘Nella Fantasia’ because that was Mom’s favorite song,” she recounts.

“For me classical is just so beautiful, the different emotions, it’s so deep. I kind of like it more than pop. I like it ’cause it’s difficult.”

Home-schooled

Being home-schooled along with her sister Calista, who’s four years younger, has given Alexa the freedom to pursue her singing.

Mai, who gave up her interior design practice and an active social life to become her children’s full-time teacher, says it’s the best decision they ever made.

“I want to work not only on their IQ but their EQ,” she says. “Everybody is so into competition these days, they want to win. That’s not on the top of our list. What’s important is they do what they enjoy doing, give it their best, and share it. Seeing how they are now makes me feel so fulfilled.”

Nevertheless, things are starting to get serious with Alexa’s singing. It’s getting harder to field the numerous requests for singing engagements. There has even been an offer for a management contract.

“That’s not where we are with this,” Mai explains. “This is a gift that is to be shared.”

One invitation the family couldn’t turn down, however, was from the Philippine Opera Company’s artistic director Karla Gutierrez, who had been keeping tabs of Alexa’s video clips.

That led to a series of voice lessons with tenor Frankie Aseniero, and a meeting with Ryan Cayabyab.

Now, no less than the UP College of Music’s professor emeritus for voice, Fides Cuyugan-Asensio, has taken Alexa under her wing for some one-on-one vocal coaching.

(“Tita Fides” was reportedly impressed when her young student managed to learn “Sa Kabukiran” overnight just by listening to Sylvia LaTorre’s recording of the kundiman, a difficult number even for grownup classical singers.)

Earlier this month, Alexa sang with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) in a performance at The Peninsula Manila.

“She’s the youngest—the only kid, in fact—who’s ever sung with the PPO,” says Mai. “Pressure!”

Alexa sings with the PPO again tonight at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for “Gold: Classical Music Treasures,” in which she’ll be singing Cesar Franck’s arrangement of the hymn “Panis Angelicus,” Felipe de Leon’s “Payapang Daigdig,” and the Italian Christmas carol “Gesu Bambino.”

When asked if she could see herself becoming a professional singer, Alexa takes a minute to think before answering.

“I don’t think I can really answer that, ’cause I’m too young and that’s really going into the future. I’m just going with the flow. I’m still a work in progress. I’ll always be, because no one is perfect. I’ll always try for the best, and try and make other people happy rather than just myself.”

The PPO caps its 37th concert season with “Gold: Classical Music Treasures”, 8 p.m. tonight, Dec. 20, at the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. Featured guests include Alexa Kaufman (soprano), Aimee Mina De La Cruz (percussion), Franz Jensen Andra (clarinet). Herminigildo Ranera conducts the PPO.