From
To Me

Tickets 50% off - only $19.75! vBti

heu(r)snlyNights in Oct

"****

C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud debate
God, sex. love & the meaning of life

Broadway-caliber
theater."

FREUD'S

— John Mona_ghan.
Detroit Free Press-

LAST

71 11 .1 8.

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SESSION

Sarah Nisbett

and David Miller
in The Magic

CENTURY THEATRE Now-Nov. 20

Flute (April

2011)

Michigan Opera Theatre Young Artist
Sarah Nisbett helps open new season.

Suzanne Chessler

Contributing Writer

0

pera audiences who have
not seen Carl Orff's Carmina
Burana might very well recog-
nize segments of the music.
"Big war movies and massive
moments in movies often have '0
Fortuna, the first and last piece of the
opera, playing in the background," says
mezzo-soprano Sarah Nisbett, who will
sing in the all-new production of the
classical work being staged Oct. 15-23 by
the Michigan Opera Theatre.
Carmina Burana, which opens MOT's
41st fall season, will be paired with Gian
Carlo Menotti's short opera The Medium,
celebrating the 100th anniversary of the
composer's birth and casting Nisbett as
Mrs. Nolan.
"It's fun getting to sing such impres-
sive work and being part of pop culture,
toe says Nisbett, 29, who decided to
explore singing after strong praise of
her bat mitzvah chanting at Temple Beth
Emeth in Ann Arbor.
"Carmina Burana has bombastic
moments with different emotions and
kinetic energy as it presents poems from
the 11th and 12th centuries. The Medium
is a more modern piece with very acces-
sible songs that are instantly beautiful
and haunting as they are sung in English."
The Orff production spotlights the
MOT chorus, Rackham Symphony Choir,
MOT Children's Chorus, soloists, aerial
artists from Cirque du Soleil and the
Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. The sing-
ing is in Latin with English supertitles
projected over the stage.
The Medium tells of a charlatan psy-
chic who cheats her customers by hold-

ing fake seances only to begin seeing
ghosts herself.
"This is my second season as a young
artist with MOT," says Nisbett, now
based in New York. "I was in The Magic
Flute and Rigoletto last season:'
Nisbett, whose early musical talents
were channeled into piano and cello,
earned her bachelor's degree at the
University of Michigan with a major in
art history.
After appearing in productions
with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society at
the school, she changed her academic
focus and studied vocal performance
at Westminster Choir College in New
Jersey, where she earned her master's
degree.
"I moved to Pennsylvania to sing
with the choir of the Opera Company
of Philadelphia and began going to
New York for auditions and gigs': says
the performer, inclined toward opera
because of the natural largeness and
vibrato of her voice. "I decided it would
be easier to change cities."
Nisbett, who is single and has
recorded music by Barber, Mozart
and Harbison, last year was chosen
first runner-up in the William C. Byrd
International Young Artist Competition.
Her concerts have included one at the
Center for Jewish History in New York,
and she is working with a cantorial stu-
dent to develop a program of contempo-
rary Jewish music.
"Last year, I sang for my Ann Arbor
congregation during the High Holidays,
and it was a wonderful experience,"
says Nisbett, who was looking forward
to doing it again this year. She also has
worked with the Ann Arbor Symphony
and Arbor Opera Theater.

Ems.

IADIT
L NCLECi

:

A charming & unique
musical love story!

(

GEM THEATRE

NOW- NOV 21

Critic's Pick
****"

THE /RECTOR IF LES MISERAILES
AN/ THE MAWS KANE gyRE

—Time Out New York

Gem box office: (313) 963-9800 I

THE

ticketmaster

FREE PARKING

Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway. Performances are at 7:30 p.m.
Saturdays, Wednesday and Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23. An opera
talk begins one hour prior to each performance. $29-$131. The 2011-2012
MOT season also includes The Marriage of Figaro (Nov.12-20), The Pearl
Fishers (April 14-22) and I Pagliacci (May 15-20).
(313) 237-7464; michiganopera.org .

with ticket stub

10% OFF

TOTAL BILL

Excludes tax, tip and beverages. With this ad.

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Wishing our valued clients a
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Carmina Burana and The Medium will be performed Oct.15-23 at the

(800) 745-3000 I www.gemtheatre.com

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open for breakfast - lunch - dinner

October 6 • 2011

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