Classical crossover singer Chris Macchio, who will perform the national anthem at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week, told Newsmax on Friday that he hopes to help Americans connect more with classical music and the fine performing arts during the incoming president's second administration.
"I've had the opportunity over the length of my career to go from delivering recitals, which is what you're taught to do at a music conservatory, and then broaden and transcend some of the typical boundaries of classical music into the classical crossover space," Macchio said on "Wake Up America." "I've received calls from all across the United States, and it could be a gentleman from Texas and I'll get a voicemail – 'I don't understand Italian, son, but you've got one hell of a voice!' And so, for me, that's one form of the highest praise you can get: Some gentleman who's never listened to opera before tells you that now he's going to start listening.
"That's really one of my goals in this upcoming administration, actually. I'm hoping, and I'm in discussions, about serving on a number of boards related to the arts. One of my missions is to fill what I perceive as a void in the conservative movement with respect to the arts and classical music in particular.
"I'd really like to play whatever role I can in moving back the fine performing arts as the gold standard for our country and an aspirational kind of genre of music, and I hope people can connect to it and find it relatable with the way that I am able to deliver this material."
In addition to the national anthem, Macchio is set to perform "O, America!" at Trump's swearing-in ceremony in Washington on Monday.
According to Macchio's website, he is an internationally recognized tenor who regularly performs to sold-out crowds in New York, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles. Classically trained at the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory, Macchio has released two albums and expanded into acting, with appearances in two Hollywood films.
Macchio performs music in more than a dozen languages and his repertoire ranges from classical arias, to Italian folk classics and Broadway favorites, as well as renditions of ballads popularized by fellow vocalists Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban.
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