Haley Porter of Opera Kelowna does a presentation about opera and how to use the body to produce sound to an enthusiastic audience of children and parents at Okanagan Regional Library’s Salmon Arm branch on Thursday, July 12. (Lachlan Labere/Salmon Arm Observer)

Haley Porter of Opera Kelowna does a presentation about opera and how to use the body to produce sound to an enthusiastic audience of children and parents at Okanagan Regional Library’s Salmon Arm branch on Thursday, July 12. (Lachlan Labere/Salmon Arm Observer)

Breaking into song at the library

Singing was encouraged during Opera Kelowna presentation at Salmon Arm library

For one minute and forty-eight seconds, the usual quiet of the Salmon Arm library was broken by The Marriage of Figaro.

From the library’s periodical section, with piano accompaniment courtesy of Youtube, Opera Kelowna’s Haley Porter sang L’ho perduta, me meschina (I have lost it, miserable me!) from the comic opera written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The brief performance was part of a Thursday, July 12 presentation by Porter about opera and how to use the body to create song.

Porter explained the presentation, attended by a large group of children and accompanying parents, is part of Opera Kelowna’s educational outreach effort that brought her to both the Blind Bay and Salmon Arm branches of the Okanagan Regional Library, to give kids an opportunity to experience opera and learn about what it is.

Related: Pursuing musical excellence

Opera Kelowna is currently rehearsing for their mainstage production of Bizet’s Carmen, running Aug. 16-19 at the Kelowna Community Theatre. The company will also be providing a free concert at Vernon’s Polson Park at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 30. For more information, visit operakelowna.com.


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Salmon Arm Observer