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Opera singer in Detroit ‘Rigoletto' uses hypnosis to combat stage fright

Posted at 1:40 PM, Oct 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-12 17:06:53-04

Star of “Rigoletto”, the mafia-style opera that opens Saturday at the Detroit Opera Theatre has a hidden trick to combat stage freight. Hypnosis.

“I always tell people: I’m an opera singer, because I’m a hypnotist,” said Nicholas Pallesen.

He is the star of the show and a certified hypnotist.

Pallesen credits his career to hypnotism.  

“I can tell you, without the work I did in hypnosis, I wouldn't even be here singing in Rigoletto,” he said.

Pallesen used hypnotherapy to combat severe stage freight, which gave him panic attacks and bouts of nausea.

And now, more than ten years later, Pallesen is opening up the Giuseppe Verdi’s operatic masterpiece.

So we put Pallesen to the test and asked him if he could hypnotize the WXYZ staff. How'd he do? Watch The Now at 4P.M. for the results.

“Rigoletto” is set in NYC in the 1950s. It follows a mafia family and a father’s struggle to protect his daughter.  The show features Verdi’s famous aria, “La donna è mobile.”

“Rigoletto” runs Oct. 14-22 at the Detroit Opera Theatre. For ticket information, click here.