Broadway @ NOCCA Series Kicks Off With Marisol Montalvo

Producer Mark Cortale's sixth annual Broadway @ NOCCA series kicks off on Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 7:30pm when internationally renowned star of opera and musical theatre, Marisol Montalvo, brings her acclaimed new show MAD SCENE to NOCCA's Lupin Hall! Tickets start at $30 and can be purchased at BroadwayNOLA.com or by calling 800-838-3006. Lupin Hall is located on the NOCCA campus at 2800 Chartres Street.

MAD SCENE is a theatrical journey of operatic proportion. It's an autobiographical tale of the insane challenges faced by an American opera singer as she performs on some of the most prestigious stages in the world, including the Paris Opera and Carnegie Hall. MAD SCENE features dizzying, exuberant arias from Lucia, Faust, and The Abduction from the Seraglio as well as beautiful musical standards from Camelot, Candide, and Sweeney Todd.

Speaking of her acclaimed appearances in the title role of Berg's Lulu, Opera magazine said, "[Montalvo] has what every Lulu needs: the physique du role and fearless vocal production that takes her up to some brilliantly stratospheric notes."

MAD SCENE was written and directed by New Orleans' very own Jeffery Roberson (aka Varla Jean Merman) and features William Hobbs at the piano.
Interview opportunities and high-res photos are available. Please contact Richard Read at 504-940-2808 or rread@noccainstitute.com.

Broadway @ NOCCA is sponsored by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and The New Orleans Advocate. All proceeds from the 2018-19 Broadway @ NOCCA series will benefit The NOCCA Institute. Click here and reserve your seats today!

Marisol Montalvo's new show Mad Scene was written and directed by Jeffery Roberson. Called "a theatrical journey of operatic proportion," it is the autobiographical tale of the insane challenges faced by an American opera singer as she performs on some of the most prestigious stages in the world, including the Paris Opera and Carnegie Hall. Montalvo made her Carnegie Hall debut with Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has recently performed the role of Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier opposite Renee Fleming with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Other recent engagements include Knoxville: Summer of 1915 at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and performances at the Salzburg Festival in 2018. She has worked with many of today's leading composers, including Matthias Pintscher, Olga Neuwirth, and Wolfgang Rihm, Peter Eötvos, Pascal Dusapin, and Marco Stroppa. Her affinity for contemporary music has led to regular engagements with ensembles including Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Intercontemporain, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Remix and Ensemble Modern. She will return to the Salzburg Festival for concerts in the summer of 2019. Marisol is especially associated with the title role of Berg's Lulu. Following her debut in the part at the Opéra National de Paris, Le Monde described her performance as "a true revelation:

The American soprano possesses real stage and vocal presence, and executes the exhausting role with incredible intensity." She has since performed the role at premier houses including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Teatro de la Maestranza, Theater an der Wien, Komische Oper Berlin, and at Theater Basel.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Mark Cortale (Artist Manager & Producer) is the Producing Artistic Director at The Art House in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He produced Deconstructing Patti on Broadway this past September at the Nederlander Theatre with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The event starred Patti LuPone and Seth Rudetsky, and it raised over $280,000 in a single night. He also launched the Broadway @ concert series in 2011 at The Art House. The series, featuring creative partner Seth Rudetsky as music director and host, had its seventh season last summer, with a roster of guest artists that included Sutton Foster, Jessie Mueller, Megan Hilty, Faith Prince, Beth Malone, Melissa Errico, and Michael Cerveris. The Broadway @ series also premiered in 2013 in New Orleans, in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) with Megan Mullally, and in London's West End with Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theater. The series has since travelled to cities that include Chicago @ The Steppenwolf, Beverly Hills @ The Wallis, Fort Lauderdale @ The Parker Playhouse, San Francisco @ The Herbst Theatre, and Scottsdale @ Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Other artists who have participated include Audra McDonald, Christine Ebersole, Chita Rivera, Kelli O'Hara, Neil Patrick Harris, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Rosie O'Donnell, Vanessa Williams, and Gavin Creel. Mark also produced the feature film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads and the web television series Seth's Reality. He manages the singing string quartet Well-Strung, which he co-founded. Info at markcortalepresents.com.
Beginning this fall, in addition to its many outposts in venues across the U.S. and on London's West End, the "Broadway @" series comes full circle with the launch of the "Broadway @ Town Hall" series in New York City. It kicks off with legendary, six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, smack dab in the middle of Broadway itself.

ABOUT NOCCA AND THE NOCCA INSTITUTE
Founded in 1973, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) is Louisiana's arts conservatory for high school students. NOCCA offers intensive instruction in Classical Music, Creative Writing, Culinary Arts, Dance, Drama, Jazz, Media Arts, Musical Theatre, Theatre Design, Vocal Music, Visual Arts, and academics. Students come from across Louisiana, attending via full-day, afternoon, and after-school sessions. Admission to NOCCA is by audition, and there is no tuition.

The NOCCA Institute is NOCCA's nonprofit partner, providing supplemental funding for NOCCA and advocacy for its world-class program. Some of the Institute's notable endeavors include: a comprehensive Financial Aid Program that funds students' supplies and fees associated with important summer training programs across the country; an Artists-in-Residence Program that brings more than 100 professional visiting artists into NOCCA's classrooms each year; the capital campaign for NOCCA's current home and expansion projects along historic Homer Plessy Way, including Press Street Gardens; a wide array of arts classes for adults; and concert, gallery, and literary events for the community.

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