Mark Cotton to Debut with Verismo Opera

Baritone Mark Cotton from Cranford, New Jersey will debut with the New Jersey Association of Verismo in Carmen on April 26. Artistic Director Lucine Amara announces Cotton will perform the role toreador Escamillo in the grand opera’s production at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC), located at 30 North Van Brunt Street, in Englewood, New Jersey, at 3 p.m.

With a repertoire that includes more than 28 roles, he has performed throughout Europe and the United States appearing as Falstaff in Otto Nicolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, Germont in La Traviata, Valentin in Faust, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. Other prominent roles include Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, among others. In Europe, he has performed in the opera houses of Trieste, Treviso, Venezia, Padua, Modena, Verona, Frankfurt, Dresden, Stuttgart, Bern, Aix-en-Provence and Nice.

Carmen

Verismo Opera, bergenPAC’s house opera company, will present Carmen in four acts with the libretto written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on a novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. Audacious gypsy Carmen seduces Don José who foolishly throws aside his honor and betrothed, Micaëla, to lust after the gypsy siren. Carmen destroys herself and everyone around her.

bergenPAC is handicapped accessible. Hearing assist systems are available upon request to the house manager in the lobby.

Tickets

Tickets may be purchased online, at the bergenPAC box office, and by calling (201) 227-1030 or toll-free at 1-888-PACSHOW. Senior citizens receive a 10% discount. The company is offering a reduced rate of $10 on all tickets for children, ages 12 and under. The special senior citizen and children’s discount ticket rates are available at the box office only and must be requested before the purchase. For special rates for group sales only, call (201) 224-2809. Discount tickets are not available for purchase online.

Funding

The 2015 season is made possible, in part, with funds provided by the New Jersey Council on the Arts/Department of State, through grand funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs. Other supporters include Children’s Aid Foundation, Robert J. Campbell, MD, Cesare L. Santeramo, KSJ, Paul Weiss Matching Fund, The Gerda Lissner Foundation, Inc., and Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund.

For more information about the grand opera company, visit Verismo Opera’s web site; like the company on Facebook; get updates on Twitter @NJVerismoOpera; follow the opera company on Pinterest; or call (201) 886-0561.