When South Choir President Sage Suson ’26 was accepted into the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, a program that admits under 50 students out of over a thousand across the country each year, he felt that if he was going to commit to following his dreams of musical theater, it was now or never. Skip forward a few weeks, and Suson is finishing his final semester at South while preparing for the future, determined to turn his dreams into reality.
Accepted into the school’s vocal performance program as a tenor, Suson trained his voice solo and worked with voice trainers for the last year before applying.
“Over the summer, I practiced singing and formed a band, I’m writing an album and I’m doing the musical,” Suson said. “Then a week before the audition videos were due, my main coach, Will Fishwick, told me, ‘I think you should try [to apply], I think you’d have a good chance,’ so I learned four classical songs in a week to prepare.”
Fishwick, Suson’s coach for the last year, graduated from Grosse Pointe North in 2017 before attending the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance, giving Suson insight into his next steps in pursuing music.
Using the advice given by Fishwick, Suson practiced everyday to perfect the four songs he was using for his audition before singing live in front of international opera singer and Michigan admissions officer Stanford Olsen. Finally, Suson received the good news that he had been working toward, shifting his mind to the future of his ambitions in music.
“After getting in, I’m really excited to get better,” Suson said. “I want to go to Broadway and I want to be in movies. Nothing else will make me truly as fulfilled as taking up a life in the arts. I do not want it to be done. I do not want to have a final performance.”
While Suson’s pursuit of his ambition has been questioned by many throughout his life, his mentality endures; instead of paying attention to those around him, he takes inspiration from the past. The legacy of his grandfather, who immigrated from Russia and had to drop out of primary school to provide for his family, pushes Suson to achieve what others may deem impossible.
“My grandfather went from literally nothing to everything,” Suson said. “I’m very motivated to make him and my ancestors proud, as silly as that sounds. I’m so driven, nothing even compares to how much I want this.”
Living in a time where performing arts majors are some of the riskiest paths to take in the US financially, Suson’s mindset has not been deterred in the slightest. To Suson, the risk of failure working in the field he loves is far less scary than the possibility of succeeding in a line of work he lacks fervor for.
“Passion gives life meaning,” Suson said. “If you’re doing something you don’t enjoy, you aren’t living. I know I’m going to be successful. I know I can do it, and I know I will do it, because my mindset is hard to come by. I will not be a failure. I won’t let that happen, and I’ll do anything to succeed.”
