Former San Francisco Opera singer turns to sound healing in bestselling anthology

Sally Porter Munro, a former San Francisco Opera Chorus member and mezzo-soprano, is featured in the international bestseller The Moment We Rise, which reached multiple bestseller categories in six countries after its Sept. 9, 2026 release. Munro’s chapter charts her move from opera to sound healing, a shift she says deepened her sense of purpose and led her to help others through voice, meditation and energy work.

Why it matters: - Sally Porter Munro’s story shows how a long performance career can evolve into a new vocation without losing the skills that made it possible. - The Moment We Rise reached bestseller lists in Biography Reference & Collections, Mental & Spiritual Healing and related categories in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Italy and the U.K. - All proceeds from the anthology support Brighter Healing Foundation and its work to expand access to holistic healing tools, education, resources and support.

What happened: - Munro, a former San Francisco Opera Chorus member, international mezzo-soprano, voice teacher and certified sound healer, is one of 15 contributing authors in The Moment We Rise: Stories of Healing, Purpose, and the Courage to Choose a New Beginning. - The anthology was released Sept. 9, 2026. - Munro’s chapter is titled “You Got to Have a Dream.” - Munro traces her music career from childhood in England to training at the Royal Northern College of Music, performances with English National Opera and the BBC Singers, further study in New York, and work in Europe, South Africa, Russia and the U.S. - Munro became a full-time member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus before later shifting into sound healing.

The details: - Munro says early vocal problems, years of physical pain and injury, depression and a loss of connection to music’s original joy shaped her path. - Munro credits her spirituality, including belief in angels and spiritual guides, with helping her stay connected to her purpose. - Munro attended her first sound bath, then left San Francisco Opera after the COVID shutdown closed the Opera House. - A 200-hour sound healing certification became available during that shutdown, and Munro decided to retire and train in the new field. - Munro took her final bow in December 2022, started training in January 2023 and completed certification in July 2023. - Since retiring, Munro has focused on sound healing and energy work while continuing to perform, teach voice and use crystal singing bowls in her practice. - Munro integrates classical vocal training with meditation, energy work and spiritually guided healing to help others explore their expression and purpose. - A client named Dawn said a Mount Shasta sound bath stood out because Munro used her own voice, calling the experience “the most exquisite and profound.” - Albert M. Eng, Ph.D., a retired clinical psychologist who began lessons with Munro at age 74, said her teaching helped him find “a singing voice that I never knew I had” and better understand links between breathing, the body, emotions and communication. - Munro says writing her chapter opened an unexpected interest in writing and brought “a joy I could not have previously imagined.” - A reader identified as Gil described the chapter as “a powerful story of personal evolution.”

Between the lines: - Munro’s move from opera to sound healing is less a break with her past than a reframe of it, with performance, teaching and spirituality folded into one approach. - The anthology’s emphasis on healing, reinvention and purpose fits Munro’s own story and helps explain why her chapter may resonate beyond classical-music readers. - Her experience also shows how retirement can become a career transition rather than an ending, especially when training and identity already overlap.

What's next: - Munro plans to keep writing and hopes to reach people through words the way she has through music and sound. - Munro will continue performing, teaching voice and incorporating singing into her sound healing work. - More information is available at Munro’s website.

The bottom line: - Munro has turned a lifetime in opera into a new practice centered on healing, purpose and voice, and she sees the transition as an expansion rather than a farewell.