Stars Sing Broadway

Michelle is an Orlando native and UCF grad. After being on Broadway with Jersey Boys, Michelle premiered and starred in the off Broadway musical Disenchanted (Lucille Lortel award Nominee-Lead Actress). Other credits include national tours of Grease(Rizzo) and the 30th anniversary tour of Annie.

Most recently, Michelle was the lead vocalist in national concert tours such as The Golden Age of Broadway and Rhapsody and Rhythm. Michelle was often a leading player with the Orlando Philharmonic (My Fair Lady, Carousel, Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed.) You can see Michelle singing at Walt Disney World as Dory in Finding Nemo the musical and with the Voices of Liberty.

Kit Cleto was born in Chicago, Illinois and showed interest in music at an early age. He actively sang in choirs from elementary school through high school. He received a BM in vocal performance from the University of Central Florida, studying under Dr. Jeremy Hunt and Priscilla Bagley. During his time at UCF, Kit sang solos with the University Chorus, Chamber Singers, and UCF Symphony Orchestra. He also performed operatic roles with UCF Opera, the Orlando Opera Company, and Valencia Opera Theater Workshop. Kit received a MM in Voice Performance & Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under full scholarship, studying with Jerold Siena, an internationally acclaimed tenor who has appeared regularly at the Metropolitan Opera and the world's leading opera houses. He performed operatic and musical theatre roles with the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, U of I Opera Studio & Opera Scenes, Station Theatre, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Allerton Music Barn Festival. Kit spent the summers of 2010 and 2013 performing operatic scenes and studying the Italian language with La Scuola Italia per Cantanti Lirici in Urbania and St’Angelo in Vado, Italy. Recently, Kit has successfully crossed over into the musical theatre genre as well, performing leading and supporting roles with many Central Florida theatre companies such as the Garden Theatre, Athens Theatre, Mad Cow Theatre, Central Florida Community Arts, and Titusville Playhouse. He currently serves on the voice faculty at Valencia College and the Orlando School of Music.

Mezzo soprano Sarah Purser has been a familiar face in the Orlando music world since 2001 when she began singing with the Orlando Opera Company. She is currently a studio artist with Opera Orlando and serves as the company’s Assistant Director of Education where she coordinates opera outreach programs bringing the art form to students in Orange County Public Schools.

Ms. Purser, whose voice has been described as “at once sultry yet vulnerable,” feels equally at home in the classical, jazz, and contemporary music genres. She earned her Master of Arts in Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of Central Florida where she studied vocal performance and conducting. Currently, Ms. Purser is on voice faculty at Valencia College and she is also the choral director at Bishop Moore High School in Orlando, and runs her own voice studio.

Recent performances consist of several roles with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Orlando Light Opera, UCF Opera and Musiktheater Bavaria including Tibse in La Cenerentola, Meg Page in Merry Wives of Windsor, Olga in The Merry Widow, and Third Spirit and The Magic Flute, as well as mezzo-soprano soloist in Vivialdi's Gloria, Lori Laitman’s Vedem, Handel’s Messiah, and Saint Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio. She recently sang the role of the Dominatrix in Opera Orlando’s premier Fringe Festival production, Safe Word and was a soloist in UCF’s production of Bernstein’s Mass. She is looking forward to singing the role of Hansel in Opera Orlando’s production of Hansel and Gretel in December of this year.

Ms. Purser is a founding member of the professional women’s vocal ensemble, Helena, and she sings with the 8-voice Basilica Choir at the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, and frequently performs in a jazz band along with her bass-player husband, Marco.

Stephen Mumbert is quickly gaining attention on the concert and opera stage throughout the United States and England. Stephen was recently praised for being “vocally, the most promising singer” and for “possessing an assured and stylish technique” for his interpretation of the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Aldeburgh Festival in England. Stephen is a graduate of Stetson University where he holds a B.M. in voice performance, and he also holds an M.M. in opera from The Boston Conservatory. Recent performances have included Rodrigo in Bellini’s I Puritani with Minnesota Concert Opera, Mozart’s Requiem with the Dakota Valley Symphony (which was broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television), Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of Minneapolis and the Village Philharmonic, Wilfred Shadbolt in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard with the G&S Very Light Opera Company, Featured Soloist for St. Augustine’s 450th Anniversary Fiesta, and a new opera project performing the lead roles of Guildenstern in Herschel Garfein’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Hopkins in Robert Aldridge's Sister Carrie staged with the respective Grammy award winning composers in residence. Stephen is thrilled to be returning to perform with the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra again after returning to Florida recently.