Opera Star Marisol Montalvo Debuts New Show MAD SCENE

Producer Mark Cortale is kicking-off the seventh season of his celebrated Broadway @ NOCCA concert series on November 1 with internationally renowned opera star Marisol Montalvo, bringing her acclaimed new show Mad Scene for its New Orleans debut. The show was written and directed by Jeffery Roberson (aka Varla Jean Merman) and features William Hobbs at the piano. The series will continue with two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole on December 15, Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller on January 31, and Tony nominee & star of TV's Supergirl and Smash, Jeremy Jordan on March 29 - with each joined by Sirius XM radio star Seth Rudetsky as music director and host.

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. For tickets and information, please visit www.broadwaynola.com or call 800-838-3006.

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.

Mark Cortale is currently co-producing the new Off Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get by Mark Sonnenblick at The York Theatre. He produced Deconstructing Patti on Broadway last September at the Nederlander Theatre with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS starring Patti LuPone and Seth Rudetsky. He created the Broadway @ concert series in 2011 at The Art House in Provincetown where he serves as Producing Artistic Director. The series, featuring creative partner Seth Rudetsky as music director and host, had its eighth season this past summer and guest artists over the years have included Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Megan Mulllally, Christine Ebersole and Jessie Mueller. 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 and San Francisco @ The Herbst Theater. This season the series premiered in Boston @ The Huntington with Chita Rivera, and launches in NYC at The Town Hall with Audra McDonald, Kelli O'Hara and Jeremy Jordan. Mark produced the feature film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads and also produces the singing string quartet Well-Strung, which he co-founded. Info at www.markcortalepresents.com

For interview requests and additional high res photos please contact Tom Fervoy at tom@miweb.cr.

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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 more 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 the Press Street corridor, 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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