Mark Janicello

MARK JANICELLO - SHORT BIOGRAPHY

 

Singer, Actor, Author, Poet, Painter, Producer, Director, Columnist and Lyricist. These are just a few of the words that can be used to describe the multi-talented, american renaissance man, Mark Janicello.    His career defies easy categorization, as he changes disciplines, the way most people change clothing.

 

Born in New York, Mark decided at the tender age of 3 that he would be an artist and he's been onstage ever since. His first stage appearance (at 4 years old) was as  soloist in his grandfather's church in Brooklyn, NY.  

 

Mark has played leading roles in over 23 Musicals, 30 Operas, 12 Plays, 16 Films (including smaller roles in: "Married to the Mob" with Michelle Pfeiffer, "84 Charing Cross Road" with Anne Bancroft and the leading roles in the Independent Films "Mozzarella" and “All My Love.”   Additionally, he has recorded 31 CDs and appeared innumerable times on television all over the world.  

 

The self-titled “International Man of Mystery” Janicello speaks English, German and Dutch fluently and is conversant in Italian, French and Swiss German.

 

SINGER: At the University of North Carolina in Greensboro (Bachelor of Music 1984) Mark began his study to become a professional opera singer.   Under the patronage of Licia Albanese, he continued his studies in New York as a Puccini Foundation Prizewinner, studying with the legendary opera singers Franco Corelli und Margaret Harshaw.    

 

In 1990, while he was practicing his operatic arias in the New York Subways, Mark was discovered by a famous opera conductor, who just happened to be passing by.   Shortly thereafter, Mark made his Carnegie Hall Debut as Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux" with the Opera Orchestra of New York under the direction of Maestra Eve Queler.

  

AMERICA'S BEST STREET PERFORMER In 1992, Mark bet on his creative instincts and jump-started his career, when he was named "America's Best Street Performer" in the KFC Musical Feast, sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.  He beat 3,000 other contestants from all over the United States.   Mark's winning idea was a reflection of his extraordinary imagination: "What if Elvis never died but just turned into Pavarotti?" The Result: a Crossover Number mixing the singing styles and personalities of Elvis with "It's Now Or Never" and Pavarotti with "O Sole Mio." His performance in New York's Grand Central Station brought him not only $15,000 but international media attention as well.

 

ACTOR: Janicello always believed that “to sing believably, one had to act as well.”  He began intensive acting training during his university years, and continued for 10 further years of private study in New York with William Wendt, a member of the New York's famed Actor's Studio.  His years of study and practice paid off, for from the beginning of his career, Janicello has moved effortlessly between singing and acting jobs. Some of his favorite parts have included: Tito Mirelli in “Lend Me A Tenor”; a very clumsy superhero (DWI Man!!) in a series of commercials for the Dutch Government (in Dutch),  and an american Army General in the computer game “Fate By Numbers.”  In 2012, Janicello played a leading role in a new german TV Series “Desperate Fathers” (in German), and his latest film project “All My Love” has been nominated for a 2013 “best short film” award at the Amsterdam ShortCutz Festival.

 

AUTHOR: In April 2011, Mark's critically-acclaimed autobiography "Naked in the Spotlight" was published by Ibera Publishers in a german translation in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.  For reviews, photos and more information go to:  www.nakedinthespotlight.com

POET:  At age 21, Mark began keeping a journal of his experiences as a young actor in New York.  A collection of Mark's poetry and essays "Unsaid"   is available online HERE.

 

CONCERT AND EVENT PROMOTER / PRODUCER: His second career as Concert Producer/Promoter began in 1996 with the Concert Events  "ELVIS: The Hollywood Years" celebrating the music of legendary Elvis Composer Ben Weisman in Gstaad and Zurich, Switzerland.  In 1998, he founded LaRaven Productions  (named after his 2 daughters, Lara und Raven). LaRaven Productions was incorporated in Amsterdam, in August 2004.  For a complete list of Mark's Concert Programs, click HERE.  

 

PAINTER: In his youth, Mark was a passionate painter and graphic artist.    Since 2001, he has renewed his childhood interest in painting.    An autodidact, he has undertaken his work in this artistic discipline with the same explosive energy with which he endeavors everything else and the results speak for themselves.   From his first collection of paintings entitled “Erotic Flowers・ until his most recent exhibition, "Abstract Reality" anicello has enjoyed 11 successful, international exhibitions (Vienna and Steyr, Austra; Amsterdam, Haarlem and Diemen, The Netherlands; Bayreuth, Germany and Z・ich, Switzerland). To see Mark's paintings, visit the Online Artist's Gallery.

 

GALLERY OWNER: In November 2011, Mark was approached by a real estate agency in Amsterdam and offered what they called “ a very problematic building.”  Herengracht 132, was a historic building in Amsterdam’s Canal District that had been devastated in a gigantic fire 3 years earlier.  It had stood empty for more than two years, after squatters had been removed.  It’s once-majestic facade was riddled with graffiti and posters and the interior of the building was pretty much devastated.  After four weeks of intensive cleaning and preparation, “Gallery LaRaven” and the Gallery LaRaven concept were born.

During it's 6 months on Herengracht, Gallery LaRaven welcomed more than 4,500 visitors and received international press attention. Mark is continuing his Gallery LaRaven Concept renovating abandoned buildings to create “pop-up”galleries, giving artists performance and exhibition opportunities which enrich the lives of the artists themselves, as well as the residents of greater metropolitan areas surrounding the Galleries.

 

MUSICAL AUTHOR:   “The Chamäleon Concert” coincided with Mark's first work as Musical Producer.  In the intervening years, he has written, directed and produced the following original musicals: "The Chamäleon Concert" (1998).  It was followed by "Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Musical" (1999); "Charlie"  (2001) & (2004); and "ELVIS: Die Show, Sein Leben" (2002-2004); The children's musical "Cloud 9" (2011) and a new project “The Great Caruso” about legendary tenor Enrico Caruso are both in pre-production.

 

DISCOGRAPHY:  

• "Unchained“ (1995)

• "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry“ (1996)  Live Recording (UK ONLY)
• “Suspicious Minds” (1996)"  Demo CD

• “Will You Still Be There" (1997)  -- The last unreleased Elvis Song from Ben Weisman
• "Can't Help Falling In Love With You" (1997)  -- CD-Single from "Elvis: A Musical Biography"  
• "Du bist das Herz der welt fuer mich" (1998)   --  Duet with Hanne Haller "
• "Be My Love: Das Mario Lanza Musical" (1999)  -- CD of the Musical
• “Classics” – (1999)  -- Puccini and Verdi Tenor Arias  
• "Deep In Your Soul" (2000)
• “Time Stands Still” (2000) - CD-Single  
• "Charlie: A New Musical" (2001) Original Cast Album – German Version
• "Right Now" (2001)    -- CD-Single from the Musical "Charlie"
• "Amazing Grace" (2001)   -- Gospel Classics      

• "Endless Love" (2001) --  Mark Janicello LIVE in Concert  

• "ELVIS : Die Show, Sein Leben" (2002) --  CD with song from the Musical

• "Great Big Mama" (2002)  -  CD-Single from the Musical "Elvis: Die Show, Sein Leben"
• “I Can’t Make You Love Me” (EP) (2003)
• “The Christmas Song(s)” (EP) ( 2003)
• "Charlie 2004" -  English Version Original Cast Album
• "Musical Man"  -  Broadway's Greatest Hits
• "Butterfly" - (2005)  
• "Traummelodien" (2005)  Opera and Operette Arias
• “Georgia On My Mind" (2005)  A Tribute to Ray Charles
• “Die Nacht der Musicals" (2007)  Guest appearance on Cast Album 4 Musical Songs)
• "La Notte Italiana" (2008)  Italian folk, pop and light classics
• "Listen" (EP) (2008) new pop songs
• “Great Big Mama” (2009)    Double-Dutch Remix CD Single
• “Ultimate Collection - Love Songs” (2009)

• “ELVIS & ME”    (2009) Double CD Set  
• "Push it Now' (2011)   CD-Single
• “Loving The Silent Tears” (2012) Original Cast Album
• “Musical Man 2” (2013) Broadway's Greatest Hits Part Two

  

A FEW CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Recording with Frank Sinatra (an unreleased duet-version of "My Way")

Appearances with Liza Minelli, Bill Cosby, Chick Corea, Jody Watley, Jon Secada, Bo Diddley, Edita Gruberova,

Anna Moffo, Alfredo Kraus and many others.

Carnegie Hall

Avery Fisher Hall

Opernhaus Züich

Metropolitan Opera Guild

Stadttheater St. Gallen

Amadeus Festival, Wien

World Music Festivall, Kopenhagen

The Grand Ole Opry

The Apollo Theater, Harlem

 

Opera:

• Per Nörgard  composed the opera  "Nuit Des Hommes"  (Kopenhagen, 1996) especially for Mark Janicello

• Graham Todd  composed the Oratorio "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" ( Sussex England 1996) for Mark Janicello

Film:

with: Ann Bancroft, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael J. Fox, Jamie Lee Curtis, - Double fü Alec Baldwin,

TV:

"The Today Show-NBC", CNN, "Entertainment Tonight,""Showtime at the Apollo", ORF, ATV, SAT 1, Pro Sieben, RTL, BR, SF1, NBC. NED 1, CRTV (Chinese TV)