Sister Listen Listen Sister
Arias, Duets, and Folksongs on Female Friendship
7pm December 12th
Soprano Lily Arbisser and local composer-soprano Marisa Michelson sing a concert of classical music and folk song, with a bit of musical theater sprinkled in, thematically driven by the intensity and complexities of female friendship. Through jealousy, heartbreak, and loving care, Lily and Marisa share Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Antonio Cifra, Vincenzo Bellini, and so much more.
Lily is an active performer of opera and classical music, and Marisa is an award-winning composer and singer across genres. The duo met each other while studying on the Libero Canto TM path, a holistic, process-oriented approach to vocal pedagogy with the main goal of liberating people who wish to sing from physical, emotional, or mental constraints so that they can make music through singing with ease, grace, vitality, and joy. Both are now teachers on this path, and Marisa has created the School of Vocal De-Armoring which applies the transformative practices and principles of the Libero Canto Approach not only to singing, speaking and sounding, but also to domains of healing, somatic de-armoring, self-growth, and spirituality.
Friends for over a decade, this is Lily and Marisa’s first concert together. They look forward to sharing their singing with Mettabee audiences, and are thrilled to be joined by local gifted pianist, Gili Melamed-Levi.
Soprano Lily Arbisser’s recent seasons’ highlights include a solo recital debut at the Sembrich in Bolton’s Landing, joining Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute as a vocal fellow, being recognized as a semifinalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition, and winning first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Competition. She is regularly heard as a soloist in the Hudson Valley area, often with Ars Choralis of Woodstock, New York. Lily has a deep affinity for art songs, performing beloved pieces from the traditional canon alongside lesser-known works. She frequently tours with French pianist Dimitri Malignan and his “Missing Voices” project, which seeks to shed light on the classical music of Jewish composers persecuted in the Holocaust. Lily and Dimitri join forces for a European tour in Spring 2027, with concerts in France and the Netherlands. Later this winter she is also looking forward to debuting with the Musicians of Ma’alwyck with concerts in the New York Capital Region. When not singing, Lily can be found outdoors cultivating her passion for ecological restoration and native plants. www.lilyarbisser.com
Marisa Michelson is a singer, improviser, and award-winning composer of music-theatre, musicals, oratorio, and choral works, who has lived in Ancram for almost six years. She performed at Mettabee once before with her a cappella Hungarian vocal quartet, Agrol Agra.
Marisa’s compositions have appeared nationally and internationally, including off-Broadway, in Rockefeller Park in NYC, Salt Lake City, Harvard, The Kitchen, and at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. She was was the founding director of the psychedelic singing ensemble Constellation Chor | an immersion in voice, movement, and spirit active in New York City and internationally for seven years. Constellation Chor’s album, Constellation Chor at Modern Accord Depot can be heard wherever music is streamed. Marisa is also an active somatic voice and embodiment practitioner with many students on Broadway and pursuing other careers in the healing arts. She teaches in Ancram and in New York City. www.marisamichelson.com
Pianist Gili Melamed-Lev is an engaging, multi-faceted artist known for her vision, innovative programing, and unique artistry. She is also the co-founder and artistic director of Jazz and Classics for Change, which offers jazz and classical programming to diverse audiences in the Hudson Valley (NY) and the Berkshires (MA).
Remaining true to her mission to connect and to heal through music in our ever-changing world, Ms. Melamed-Lev, strives to bring audiences together through the poetic and life affirming experience of music and the belief that it enriches our lives, sparks ideas, serves as a refuge, and provides us with an infinite source of beauty.
Ms. Gili Melamed-Lev, has performed throughout the US, Europe and Canada, in collaboration with prominent musicians such as Eugene Drucker, Kenneth Cooper, Krista Bennion-Feeney, Jenia Pikovsky, Joel Pitchon, Joana Genova, William Frampton, Dima Ratush, Ariel Rudiakov, David Cerutti, Roberta Cooper, Ashley Bathgate, Serafim Smigelskiy, Ronald Feldman, Inbal Segev, Linor Katz, Peter Weitzner, John Feeney, Paul Green, Gili Sharett, Judith Mendenhall, Eugenia Zukerman, Lior Eitan, Omri Rave, Michael Slatkin, Uzi Shalev, Amanda Boyd-Grout and Lucille Beer to name a few.
From 2012-2020, she was the founder and artistic director of The Concerts at Camphill Ghent. As a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative artist, she is a member of the Lev-Evans duo with pianist Mark Evans as well as an educator having coached, performed, and given master classes at Williams College, Bard College, and her private studio. She has garnered rave reviews for her collaboration with Australian actor, John McManus, during their extended tour of The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico and has additionally partnered with the Actors’ Ensemble and Walking the Dog Theater.
Born in Jerusalem, Melamed-Lev was a scholarship student at The Juilliard School, Montclair State College, and the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.