Cristina Fontanelli (born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

) is an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, opera singer and television presenter.

Early life

The Italian-American Fontanelli was born in

."Christina Fontanelli sings 'Christmas in Italy' program" '' The Union City Reporter'', November 28, 2010, Page 20 She graduated from The

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...

, and also attended The Juilliard School. In addition she has performed at many different venues and at public events, including at Feinstein's at the Regency, and the

National Arts Club The National Arts Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and members club on Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in 1898 by Charles DeKay, an art and literary critic of the ''New York Times'' to "stimulate, foster, and promote public ...

Career

Fontanelli has appeared on stage with

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

Joe Piscopo Joseph Charles John Piscopo ( ; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His f ...

Pat Cooper Pat Cooper (born Pasquale Caputo; July 31, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. Life and career His father Michael Caputo was a bricklayer from Mola di Bari, Italy and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in Brooklyn, New York, where Cooper ...

, and her friend the television host,

Joe Franklin Joe Franklin (March 9, 1926 – January 24, 2015), born Joseph Fortgang, was an American radio and television host personality, author and actor from New York City. Franklin is noted for having the first talk show and inventing the format. His te ...

. She has sung with Boston Pops Orchestra with Richard Hayman conducting, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and performed at one of the 2005 presidential

inaugural ball United States presidential inaugural balls are large social gatherings, both white tie and black tie, held to celebrate the commencement of a new term of the President of the United States. Planned and sanctioned by the Presidential Inaugural ...

s. Called a "vocal genius" by ''

The New York Sun ''The New York Sun'' is an American online newspaper published in Manhattan; from 2002 to 2008 it was a daily newspaper distributed in New York City. It debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of the earlier New York ...

'', Fontanelli was awarded the OSIA Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts (whose previous recipients include

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

), and has been named "Woman of the Year" by Italian organizations throughout the United States. Fontanelli has hosted a series of specials for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

including "

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

Live from

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...

" and

Il volo Il Volo (; Italian for "The Flight") is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, the ...

takes flight. in November 2010 Fontanelli appeared on the "CBS Weekend NY" show on which she sang

O Sole Mio "O sole mio" () is a well-known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its Neapolitan language lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua (1865–1917) and Alfredo Mazzucchi (1878–1972).. The title transla ...

Personal life

Fontanelli resides in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

Official web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontanelli, Cristina American opera singers American women singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women