The Long Island native who memorably belted the National Anthem at President Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration will play the Paramount Theater in Huntington this Saturday—not too far from his humble Holbrook beginnings.
Christopher Macchio, 46, was also honored by the Sachem School District’s education foundation on Thursday, March 27.
“Very excited that AMERICA’S TENOR, our very own Christopher D. Macchio, will be singing the National Anthem at the Inauguration!!” New York State Assemblyman Doug Smith (Holbrook), also a Sachem alum, wrote on Jan. 19th. “Making Holbrook, Sachem, and our entire community proud!!!!”
During a recent interview with the New York Post, Macchio recalled how crippling shyness as a teenager prohibited him from unleashing his first-rate pipes by the way.
“I discovered I could sing when I was 13 by listening to and mimicking the soundtrack to ‘The Godfather Part III,'” he said. “But at the time, I was a bookworm. I just wanted to be left alone in the library.”
His performance anxiety escalated to a point where he even advised his choir teacher that he would quicker accept being failed than adhering to a mandate to sing in front of people.
Macchio ultimately came out of his shell under the guidance of this same educator, and the rest is literal history of the national persuasion.
He last-minute flexed in for Elton John at a Mar-a-Lago-set New Year’s Eve Party, which began a decade-long friendship with the future Commander-in-Chief.
A Pre-White House Trump next sang his song-filled mentee’s praises to Rod Stewart, who saw Macchio sing at his 70th birthday celebration shortly thereafter.
Youngsters devoid of an appreciation for the works of, say, the wide audience-reaching Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, may be inherently predisposed to not “understanding Macchio’s game” — as when they think of the opera, their minds go to “Saturday Night Live” era Adam Sandler.
As cheekily all-in-good fun as “The Sandman’s” little numbers may be, what Macchio brings is indisputably the real deal.
Case in point: he performed “The Lord’s Prayer” at Trump’s brother Robert’s funeral services in 2020.
Said Macchio: “The President himself called me over and told me that my voice was just as good as Pavarotti’s.”