SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Choral Society bid bon voyage to a frequent visitor and friend last week.

Professional soprano Michelle Minke gave a farewell recital at Calvary Church on July 16, presenting an operatic repertoire that ranged from Baroque to Broadway.

Soprano Michelle Minke credits her visits in Yellowknife for inspiring her decision to pursue a Master's degree in vocal pedagogy from the University of Toronto. - photo courtesy of Michelle Minke

It was Minke's fourth visit to Yellowknife from Calgary in just over a year, but it will be her last for awhile.

Minke leaves for Toronto in August where she will perform in the choir at the Canadian Opera Company while pursuing a Master's degree in vocal pedagogy at the University of Toronto.

She thanks members of the Choral Society for inspiring her to focus on a teaching career.

"I think I owe a lot of that to Yellowknife, falling into teaching, because it happened kind of randomly," she said.

"I realized a real passion for it. Now I think I would like to be able to do it at the highest level possible."

Minke introduced herself to the North in February of last year as a cast member with Frobisher, a nationally acclaimed opera staged by Calgary Opera's Emerging Artists Program that travelled to Yellowknife, Iqaluit and Norman Wells. Minke was an inaugural member of the prestigious opera company's Emerging Artists Program in its 2006-07 season.

As part of that tour, which presented a concert version of the almost 100-member production staged in the south, Minke offered voice workshops for members of Yellowknife's choral community.

"I guess they really liked what I had to say," she said. "They kept finding ways to fly me back up here to work with people."

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, she shared expert instruction with local choralists, met with the Fireweed Children's Chorus and led a technical workshop as part of the exploratory youth music camp facilitated by Carmen Braden at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre last week.

"Michelle is easy to work with and she's fun and she wasn't afraid to put herself out there as the example," Braden said.

"It was really nice to have someone who was trained like this but could communicate what she wanted us to do and what we could do at our own levels (of experience)."

Several members of the Choral Society also visited Minke in Calgary over the last year for more one-on-one instruction.

"She certainly helped to inspire singers to recognize that all of us can improve the way we sing and to feel excited about learning to sing as well as we can, and to make us also embrace our inner opera singer," said Choral Society member Margo Nightingale.

"We will watch for her in the future and certainly know that she has such great talent to perform and to teach. They are two things that she is incredibly gifted with."

Minke said Yellowknife benefits from a number of accomplished and professionally trained singers, such as Susan Shantora, from whom aspiring singers can learn.

Choral singing "is a really tough thing to pursue but it's great to have a life full of music and doing something you're really passionate about," she said.

"Just make sure you get the right training. I think that's the most important thing."