A party Thursday night brought together two organizations in perfect harmony. Opera at the Mansion combined the sumptuous spaces of the Victoria Mansion with the velvety voices of three members of PORTopera’s Young Artists Program for a sonorous soiree.

Mezzo soprano Stephanie Sadownik, soprano Claire Coolen and bass-baritone Robert Mellon thrilled the crowd with two sets of vocal music, accompanied by pianist Timothy Steele, who teaches at the New England Conservatory.

All four are part of the “Cafe Vienna” production, which stages its last shows today in Ocean Park and July 15 in Farmington.

“They exceeded my expectations,” Ann Elderkin, president of the PORTopera board, told me. “They give you goosebumps.”

The singers had equal praise for the venue and the guests.

“The acoustics in here are wonderful,” Mellon said, and Sadownik added, “It was one of the more fabulous places to sing.”

“And a really great audience with a great vibe,” Coolen said.

The performances took place on the front hall staircase. The mansion seemed to come alive with the music.

“The way their voices soared, I felt we could hear better upstairs,” said PORTopera board member Connie Bingham.

“I love what they’re doing with the Young Artists Program,” Pam Jackson, who is a member of the Choral Arts Society, told me.

Jackson is looking forward to attending PORTopera’s production of “The Daughter of the Regiment (La Fille du Regiment)” on her birthday. The production takes place July 28 and 30 at Portland’s Merrill Auditorium.

“It’s a very family-friendly opera,” PORTopera director Dona D. Vaughn told the crowd. “It’s silly and fun and it has no sex, it has no murder.”

When I chatted with Jan Opalach, who plays Sergeant Sulpice in “The Daughter of the Regiment,” he said, “Portland is doing something right, for sure. The support the company gets from the community is impressive.”

Moving among the crowd were waiters from Blue Elephant Catering, who kept the party-goers well fed with hearty hors d’oeuvres. A cash bar on the front porch took advantage of the warm summer breezes.

The party also provided an opportunity for music lovers who had always wanted to view the opulent spaces in the Portland house museum.

“I’ve never been here, even though I live up the street,” Suzanne Nance told me. Nance is the music director for Maine Public Broadcasting and hosts the popular “Morning Classical Music” program.

“It’s an exciting synergy,” said Ellen Corson Barton. Her husband, Steve Barton, serves on the mansion’s board.

“They used to do a lot of (musical performances at the mansion) in the ’40s and ’50s,” Victoria Mansion curator Arlene Palmer Schwind told me. But during the mansion’s more recent history, the only live music came from a small opera workshop held at the mansion in conjunction with the University of Southern Maine.

“This is a more major event,” Schwind said. “We’re hoping opera supporters will become mansion supporters and mansion supporters will become opera supporters.”

Before the music began, Schwind told the crowd about the connections between the mansion and opera she’s unearthed in her research.

For instance, she discovered that “The Daughter of the Regiment” made its U.S. debut in 1843 in New Orleans. This was the same year Maine native Ruggles Sylvester Morse, who built the Victoria Mansion between 1858 and 1860, arrived in New Orleans to begin amassing his fortune as a proprietor of luxury hotels.

Citing reports of the day that spoke of opera’s popularity in New Orleans and Morse’s personal effects that hint at a fondness for opera, Schwind told us: “He was clearly an opera lover and he clearly went to this opera.”

Another operatic connection comes from the mansion’s original trompe l’oeil murals and decorations painted by Giuseppe Guidicini, who was known for his work in opera houses and theaters.

As I listened to the music, I could almost hear the echoes of parties past where music took center stage.

Mansion board member and PORTopera supporter Ruth Townsend Story smiled when she told me, “This is a wonderful city for music and art.”

As well as a community that welcomes creative collaborations.

Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at:

akamila@pressherald.com

Follow her on Twitter at:

Twitter.com/AveryYaleKamila