Mark Cotton has sung a wide variety of operatic roles from Verdi to Gounod and Bernstein to Barber. He has also spent extensive time on the Concert Stage singing Beethoven, Faure, Haydn, and Verdi. Most recently, he has been heard as the baritone soloist for L’opera Piccola 20th Anniversary Gala at the historic Kloster Eberbach in Eltville, Hessen performing Il Balen from Verdi’s Il trovatore and the Te Deum from Puccini’s Tosca.

This past season he performed the title role of Rigoletto with the Delaware Valley Opera and Tonio in Opera West’s production of I Pagliacci.

Margaret Bruetsch of the Sullivan County Democrat described his Rigoletto as, “Cotton’s voice is spectacular, but his ability to pull the audience into the story was what really made him stand out. He pivoted from funny jester to cruel voice of the Duke to overprotective and later heartbroken father with ease”.

His voice has been described as “superb”, “rich”, “pure and resonant” and “captures the hearts” of his audience. Equally impressive is his dramatic portrayals and commitment to characters, often remarked that his “commanding presence brought power to each of his performances”.

Mark has performed internationally with companies such as Linguagloso Festival, Opera Classica Europa, Hudson Lyric Opera, Delaware Valley Opera, Montclair Opera Theatre, Miami Lyric Opera, NJ Verismo Opera, and the Opera Company of Brooklyn. His highlighted roles have included Escamillo, Germont, Count di Luna, Amonasro, Melchior, Alfio, Sharpless, Rigoletto, and Simon Boccanegra.

The 2021-2022 season also includes performances with Opera West in Santa Fe, NM as Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, concerts with the Delaware Valley Opera singing excerpts from Don Pasquale, Rigoletto, and Cosi fan tutte, and appearing as the Title Role of Ribas-Dominici by Nathan Felix with the Timicua Arts Foundation in Orlando, Florida.

Equally experienced on the concert stage, Mr. Cotton has performed many of the most popular orchestral works, such as Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Dvorak’s Te Deum, and Verdi’s Requiem to name a few. He has appeared regularly with the Masterworks Chorus, The Paul Madore Chorale, and the Messiah Society of Grand Junction.

During Mr. Cotton’s formative training, he was fortunate to be a student of two operatic legends and devoted mentors, Carlo Bergonzi in Busseto, Italy and Franco Corelli in New York City. The practical knowledge and technique they passed to Mark gave him a solid foundation to build his career.

When Mark is not on the stage, he enjoys hiking, weight training, cooking, Sci-Fi TV, movies and has earned a Black Belt in Taekwondo.