Growing up in Scarsdale, N.Y., the son of a psychiatrist, Martorano always enjoyed singing. He fronted a rock band in his teens and sang in his High School choir; indeed, he might never have discovered opera had he not injured his knee playing rugby during his first week at liberal-arts enclave Union College, where he’d enrolled as a pre-med student. “Because I couldn’t play, I joined the choir,” Martorano remembers. “When I auditioned, the choir director, Hugh Wilson, said, ‘You have an incredible voice – you should be a singer.’ At age 18 this was a very romantic idea to me.”

Wilson, the Chairman of Union’s music department, was a famed organist and a stalwart of the local opera community. “His mother was Caruso’s accompanist,” marvels Martorano. “He grew up hearing Caruso singing in his house.” Almost immediately after his first concert solo, Martorano found himself singing professionally at the behest of Wilson’s impresario friends. “I’d had maybe five voice lessons, couldn’t read music and didn’t speak Italian, French or German – and already I had work,” he recalls. “I had to learn everything by rote. It was rather daunting.” He also studied composition at Union with modern-classical composer Hilary Tann.

Martorano nonetheless transferred to Indiana University for its superior vocal program. “I got into more practical performance because I was an artist in residence,” he points out. “It was workshops, lessons and coaching all day.” He appeared on some radio broadcasts and performed in Europe, but because the aspiring singer was so young, his instructors wanted him to take a couple of years off so his voice could “mature,” as operatic parts are generally sung by more seasoned performers.

At age 24, he left Indiana and returned to Union to finish his studies. He took three years’ worth of science courses in one year for his M.D. while simultaneously earning a B.A. in performing arts with an emphasis in orchestral arranging.

Entirely self-taught in both business and computers, he soon found himself running Brazil's largest database marketing firm, as well as consulting on the side. While there he was accepted to Columbia Medical School.
 

Martorano lives and works in Malibu, California with his wife, Melissa.