It started out about six years ago...

It started out about six years ago as a woodwind octet. Then it began to add strings and percussion. Now it’s a 35-piece chamber orchestra that has been known to handle Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Dvorak’s Serenade for Orchestra.

In its latest incarnation, the New Valley Chamber Orchestra will perform a program of opera and musical comedy works today at 2 p.m., at the Fantasia Bistro in the City of Industry.

The orchestra, under the direction of Hacienda Heights native Theresa Nedry Molinaro, will be joined by soprano Patricia Prunty and tenor Jeffrey Johnson, who will sing songs from “My Fair Lady.” Then Prunty will sing arias from Verdi’s “Rigoletto” and Massenet’s “Manon.”

This is regional classical music at its most passionate, with 35 inspired musicians and a loyal following in the orchestra’s home base, the Puente Hills communities.

Molinaro, a graduate of Hacienda Heights’ Wilson High School and Long Beach State, says the orchestra has fulfilled a need: “We did a concert one year, then people started asking, ‘When are you going to do it again?’ “People started saying, ‘Hey, we really need something like that. I’m tired of driving to the Music Center.’ ”

Molinaro, who plays the clarinet, says the orchestra doesn’t aspire to national tours and recording contracts. “We’re not competing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The idea is to have high-caliber music locally.”

Today’s program at the bistro, 17500 Castleton St., is titled “Fanfare at Fantasia.” It includes hors d’oeuvres; tickets are $20.