He’s making opera great again.
Christopher Macchio, the Long Island vocalist who stole the show singing the “Star Spangled Banner” at President Trump’s second inauguration — earning the nickname “America’s Tenor” — continues hitting high notes in his musical career now as a nationwide sensation.
“As a teenager, I really wanted to keep it a secret that I could sing because I did not want anybody to ask me to perform,” Macchio, 46, told The Post.
The once timid Holbrook native has a homecoming show Saturday night at the Paramount Theater in Huntington and will be honored by his high school alma mater through the Sachem district’s education foundation on Thursday.
It was, after all, at Sachem High School where a very shy Macchio found his God given talents.
“I discovered I could sing when I was 13 by listening to and mimicking the soundtrack to ‘The Godfather Part III,’” he recalled.
“But at the time, I was a bookworm. I just wanted to be left alone in the library.”
The powerful tenor isn’t exaggerating that his love of belting out beautiful notes was exclusively done in private.
He even told his choral teacher, “You can fail me, but I won’t sing in front of people.”
However, the educator challenged Macchio and ultimately broke the teenager out of his shell by getting him to sing one-on-one after the whole class left one day.
“He just couldn’t believe it. ‘Oh my God, I never heard a voice like this in all my years of teaching!’” Macchio recalled.
“At the end of all of that, he just said ‘What exactly is it you intend to do with your life?’ And at that time, I said, ‘Well, I think I’m going to practice law and be an attorney.’ And he just looked at me like I was crazy and said, ‘wrong answer.’”
That moment put Macchio on a trajectory to stardom, and with a bit of help from fate, a first meeting with Trump a decade ago.
You’re hired
Macchio first became Trump’s musical apprentice on New Year’s Eve of 2015 after getting called at the last minute to fill in for Elton John at a Mar-a-Lago soiree.
After he “blew everybody away” at the party, Trump introduced Macchio to Rod Stewart and ended up singing at the iconic entertainer’s 70th birthday.
Trump reconnected with Macchio in 2020, when he asked the Long Islander to perform at the funeral of his brother, Robert, who was also a big fan of his musical abilities.
“I sang the Lord’s Prayer and the President jumped out of his seat and gave me a standing ovation in the middle of that solemn service,” said Macchio.
“Later, the President himself called me over and told me that my voice was just as good as Pavarotti’s.”
That started a serenading friendship that blossomed over five years between the POTUS and his de facto secretary of opera, including moments like at the 2020 Republican National Convention at the White House.
Trump had Secret Service wrangle Macchio to re-sing his entire song set because cameras cut away from him the first time. Macchio, who calls the President a personal friend, said Trump is especially partial to hearing Giacomo Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” which he sang at the RNC.
“That one actually got him sued because he didn’t have the rights, the permission, for me to perform that on television from the White House,” the singer said.
“But he said ‘Christopher, it was worth every single penny,’” Macchio added while imitating Trump’s voice.
One of the most special moments the two shared was during Trump’s October return to Butler, PA, where Macchio — who was yanked from touring in Venice, Italy — again performed to honor the victims of the summer’s assassination attempt.
“It was when he and I exited the stage together that he pointed to me…and he said, ‘you’re going to be at the inauguration January 20th.’”
When that day finally came, as millions watched Macchio during his captivating performance of the National Anthem, the high school breakthrough rushed back into his head.
“You know how they say when you pass away, your life flashes before your eyes?’ Well, I guess in a situation like that, my professional life flashed before my eyes,” Macchio said.
“I’m so happy I didn’t end up becoming a lawyer,” he joked.
