Valentine’s Day is a time for love, and that includes chocolate lovers.
The Salmon Arm Committee of the Kamloops Symphony is combining a love of chocolate and classical music in presenting Death by Chocolate Thursday, Feb. 14 at the Comfort Inn.
Organizer Cilla Budda says this is the first major fundraiser to support the symphony coming to Salmon Arm – a trip that costs the organization $1,000 a busload.
And what can the discerning chocolate lover expect? A veritable feast, says Budda, noting there will be a chocolate fountain served with fruit and bubbling with Belgium’s famous Callebaut chocolate, turtle cheesecake, delectable homemade chocolates, a secret cake, singing telegrams, raffles and much more.
This celebration of music, love and chocolate features the musical talents of sopranos Andrea Roberts and Stephanie Nakagawa, accompanied by the inimitable Jim Johnston.
Roberts, began piano lessons at age 4, and was already performing professionally before starting vocal training when she was 19.
Roberts and her Vancouver teacher soon discovered she had a natural ability for classical music. And, mere months into her training with him, she was registered many festivals, collecting gold and silver medals. She then enrolled in Capilano College’s bachelor of music program where she majored in classical vocal performance and piano. Next came two years of private voice lessons in the Mozart Conservatory in Slovakia.
She is a member of the Northern Lights Chamber Choir and Terry Logan’s Ancora, and sings at weddings and at the Jazz Club of Salmon Arm.
A Salmon Arm Secondary grad Nakagawa pursued her doctorate of music in voice at Indiana University, having completed her master’s degree there, and her bachelor of music degree in opera from the University of British Columbia, where she was awarded the UBC Medal.
Nakagawa won the Western Canada District Metropolitan Opera National Council and the B.C. Provincial Festival of the Performing Arts. She has performed with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Westcoast Symphony Orchestra, Oberlin in Italy, Prince George Symphony, and the North Bohemian Philharmonic in the Czech Republic among others.
At this time, Nakagawa is performing in the Okanagan and teaching privately and at the Kelowna Community Music School. Tickets for Death By Chocolate are $25 and are available at Wickett Business Services.