Overture Magazine - 2015-2016 Season March-April 2016 | Page 29

program notes {
become a YouTube sensation with her diva
impression videos. With over 21 million
views worldwide, Ms. Bianco is best known
for her renditions of “Total Eclipse of the
Heart” and “Let It Go.”
Ms. Bianco made her West End debut
starring in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s
hailed production of Forbidden Broadway
at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. In
New York, she starred Off Broadway in
the one-woman, multi-character comedy
Application Pending. Other New York
credits include Newsical the Musical, Forbidden Broadway: Goes To Rehab, Raffi On
Broadway at the Gershwin Theatre, Tony
and Tina’s Wedding and It Must Be Him.
Ms. Bianco originated the role of Dora in
the long-running national tour of Dora The
Explorer Live, which included a sold-out
run at Radio City Music Hall.
On television, Ms. Bianco plays the
recurring role of Bianca on the sitcom
Impress Me, produced by SoulPancake.
As a cabaret artist, Ms. Bianco
performed weekly in an unprecedented
eight-month run of 11 O’Clock Numbers
at Feinstein’s at Loew’s Regency. She has
performed her critically acclaimed solo
shows, Diva Moments and Party Of One
to sold out crowds at NYC’s Birdland and
regionally across the country. A native of
New York, Ms. Bianco attented the Tisch
School of the Arts.
Christina Bianco last performed with
the BSO in October 2014, in the program
Broadway Standing Ovations! with Jack
Everly, conductor.

Mandy
Gonzalez

Mandy Gonzalez is
best known for her
emotional portrayal of
Nina Rosario in the Tony Award winning
Broadway musical In the Heights, a role
she created Off Broadway at 37 Arts and
which received a Drama Desk Award for
best ensemble.
Ms. Gonzalez starred as Elphaba in
the Broadway production of Wicked at
New York’s Gershwin Theatre, singing
the signature song “Defying Gravity” and

receiving a Broadway.com Award for best
replacement. Other Broadway roles include
Princess Amneris in the Elton John and
Tim Rice musical Aida, and multiple roles
including that of Beatles icon John Lennon
in Lennon. Ms. Gonzalez made her Broadway debut in Jim Steinman’s Dance of the
Vampires opposite Michael Crawford.
Ms. Gonzalez received an OBIE Award
and critical praise for her performance
in the Off-Broadway production of Eli’s
Comin’, directed by Diane Paulus and
based on the music and lyrics of singersongwriter Laura Nyro.
Equally at home on the big and small
screen, she has appeared in Across the
Universe directed by Julie Taymor and
Man on a Ledge with Sam Worthington.
Ms. Gonzalez’ television credits include
White Collar, The Good Wife, 666 Park
Avenue, One Life to Live and Third Watch.
She can currently be seen as the recurring
character Lucy Knox in Madam Secretary on CBS. A native of California, Ms.
Gonzalez attended the California Institute
of the Arts.
Mandy Gonzalez is making her debut
with the BSO.

N’Kenge

N’Kenge, who originated the role of Mary
Wells in Broadway’s
Motown: The Musical,
made her Broadway debut in Sondheim
on Sondheim alongside Barbara Cook,
Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis and Tom
Wopat, directed by Pulitzer Prize winner
James Lapine. In London, N’Kenge made
her West End debut starring in The Genius
of Ray Charles. N’Kenge starred in the
Michael Jackson Tribute Show World Tour
and has been seen as a soloist at Carnegie
Hall with The New York Pops Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Indianapolis
Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra to
name a few.
 This 2015–2016 season saw N’Kenge 
as the witch in Big Fish and Matron
“Mama” Morton in Chicago with Alpine
Music Project Theater. In addition,
N’Kenge will appear as a soloist with

numerous symphonies across the U.S.
this season.  Nominated for outstanding
lead actress by the Helen Hayes Awards in
DC for her performance in 3 Mo’Divas,
N’Kenge had the honor of performing for
President Obama at the Commander-inChief’s Inaugural Ball. Visit N’Kenge at
www.nkengemusic.com.
N’Kenge last performed with the BSO in
September 2015, in the program Classic
FM, with Jack Everly, conductor.

Kristen Plumley

Kristen Plumley
has performed with
many opera companies throughout the
country, including Barbarina in Le Nozze
di Figaro with New York City Opera, Norina in Don Pasquale and Zerlina in Don
Giovanni with Virginia Opera, Yum-Yum
in The Mikado with Opera Memphis
and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore with
Nevada Opera.
Ms. Plumley’s works on the concert
stage include Mozart’s Coronation Mass
and Haydn’s Mass in Time of War at
Carnegie Hall, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor,
Elgar’s For the Fallen, Bach’s Coffee Cantata, and Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity,
Basically Bernstein with Opera Tampa,
and An Evening of Gilbert and Sullivan
with the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, Richmond, Memphis and Minnesota.
Her favorite concert is An Evening of SciFi Favorites — music from science fiction
movies and television shows, hosted by
George Takei and conducted by Maestro
Jack Everly — which she has performed
with the Cleveland, Indianapolis, Seattle,
Baltimore, Edmonton and Ottawa Symphonies, among others.
A Connecticut native, Ms. Plumley received an Artist Diploma in opera from the
Hartt School of Music and a Bachelor of
Arts in psychology and music from College
of the Holy Cross.
Kristen Plumley last performed
with the BSO in February 2014, in
the program Sci-Fi Spectacular, with
Jack Everly, c ۙX