Australian soprano Margaret Nisbett has died

A leading lady at Sadler's Wells for eight years, Margaret Nisbett was one of Australia's best-known singers in the 1960s and 1970s.

by Jason Blake

The death of the Melbourne-born soprano Margaret Nisbett has been announced. She was 94.

Margaret Nisbett in her youth. Photo courtesy Slippedisc

In her prime and working in London, Nisbett sang full-time with Sadlers Wells for eight years as one of their leading ladies. Her roles included Adele in Die Fledermaus, Gilda in Rigoletto and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro. She also performed for BBC TV and Radio.

Nisbett returned to Australia in late 1962 and in 1965 was approached by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to perform a series of operas for TV, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She is remembered by many for her Maria in The Sound of Music, in a production that toured nationally and in New Zealand for 15 months. She performed a successful 36-week series on ABC TV, Margaret Nisbett Operetta and was a regular musical guest on the Melbourne variety show In Melbourne Tonight, hosted by Graham Kennedy.

Margaret Nisbett as Maria in The Sound of Music, New Zealand, 1963
Photo courtesy National Library, Wellington

Nisbett started piano and singing lessons aged nine. Later, while working as a typist, she competed in singing competitions and performed in concerts before joining the National Theatre School to study opera.

In 1947, aged 18, Nisbett got an unexpected career boost understudying the role of Gilda in Rigoletto at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre. The leading lady fell ill and with only a day to prepare, Nisbett delivered an acclaimed performance on the production’s opening night.

She continued studies under bel canto specialist Pauline Bindley and won the Mobil Quest talent competition in 1951. Her prize included the opportunity to study opera overseas and, in 1954, she departed for England with her husband, Jon, to study with Dino Borgioli and Clive Carey – Joan Sutherland’s teacher. Prior to joining Sadler’s Wells, she also performed for the Dublin Grand Opera Company and the Carl Rosa Opera Company.

Margaret Nisbett. Photo courtesy Limelight Magazine online

In the latter part of her singing career, Nisbett was a principal with the Melbourne Opera Company. She also toured regularly, performing in cabaret shows and in Carols by Candlelight concerts throughout the 1970s and recorded albums of opera and light opera songs.

In the early 1990s, Nisbett reduced her public performances and commenced a successful career teaching a new generation of singers.

She died at her home in Melbourne on 2 July.

First published at Limelight Magazine online, July 6, 2023