"--Elegant and vivacious -- a young Callas” according to the review of Mario Fratti, the Tony Award-winning playwright. Cristina is quickly becoming a well-known personality through her recordings, her appearances on American and Italian radio, TV, opera, in concerts, and through her recent acting debut on network television, where she is receiving rave reviews for her beautiful voice and versatile talent.

2007 appearances include her debut at Feinstein’s at the Regency
(Of which Michael Skakun of “The New York Sun” wrote she is a “vocal genius” and Alan Farham, Sr. Editor of “Forbes” Magazine: “Cristina Fontanelli is a cross between Maria Callas and Ethel Merman…she has no equal”). A televised red carpet appearance (NBC/NBC National Affiliates/RAI International) for New York City’s Columbus Day Parade along with Italian pop star Zucchero and tenor, Marcello Giordani. Other appearances also include her “Viva L’Italia” concert in Staten Island’s Snug Harbor Cultural Center, her 4th-annual “Christmas in Italy” concert in the new New York Times Center concert/lecture Hall, West Virginia and Italy, and return engagements all over the country. She will receive the NYC Transit Authority Columbian Association’s “Woman of the Year” award in October and also “Woman of the Year for the Federation of Italian American Societies of New Jersey in November.

2006 appearances included the Italian Embassy in Washington D.C., the title role of “Madame Butterfly” with Opera of the Hamptons, Lorenzo’s Cabaret at the Staten Island Hilton (alongside Chaz Palminteri and Dominick Chianese), a 9/11 memorial concert at Rockefeller Center with the NYPD Concert Band (televised on CNN, Fox National and NY Channels 5, 7 and 9) and the NY Mercantile Exchange on Wall Street with the Honorable Rudolf Giuliani in attendance, Ms. Fontanelli’s third-annual highly-acclaimed “Christmas in Italy” concert at Merkin Concert Hall near Lincoln Center, and appearances at Italian Festivals throughout the U.S.

On January 20, 2005 Cristina Fontanelli was invited to open the ceremonies at the Stars and Stripes Presidential Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. where she sang the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” to an audience of over 6,000 invited guests and dignitaries. This following her 2004 “Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts” from the Order Sons of Italy in America (previous honoree Luciano Pavarotti). In 2005 Ms. Fontanelli also appeared at the Rainbow Room in NYC for the National Organization of Italian American Women, at the Waldorf Astoria for the Order Sons of Italy in America and for the Columbian Police Association at Police Plaza in lower Manhattan as well as in the Columbus Day Parade.

Ms. Fontanelli has appeared with opera companies throughout the United States and abroad including the Palm Beach Opera, the New York Grand Opera, the New Jersey State Opera, the Cairo Opera, the Teatro Nacional, Santa Domingo and the Sha Tin Auditorium in Hong Kong. She has toured the Middle East extensively as an “Ambassador of Opera”. Her operatic repertoire includes such heroines as Mimi, Musetta, Violetta and the title role of “Madame Butterfly”.

Ms. Fontanelli has also toured as a solo concert artist in major concert halls throughout Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United States. She is a favorite guest artist with many prestigious orchestras including the Boston Pops, the St. Louis Symphony, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Thayer Symphony, the New Jersey Pops, the Bloomington Pops, and the Charlotte Philharmonic performing in major concert halls throughout the U.S. and the world, including the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and all major concert halls throughout the Far East and Canada. Ms. Fontanelli completed three world-tours with the Mantovani Orchestra. She sings and entertains in Japanese, Korean, Italian, Neopolitan, French, German, Spanish and Yiddish.

Other awards include winning her Italian operatic debut through the American Opera Auditions, receiving grants from the Puccini and Koussevitsky Foundations, performing at the Casa Verdi in Milan under the auspices of Giulietta Simionato, being named “Woman of the Year” by the Ethnic Press Council of Toronto, being awarded the “Italian-American Heritage Award” by the St. Ann’s Festival in Hoboken, New Jersey (past honorees include Frank Guarini and Danny Aiello), being awarded the Sergio Franchi Music Foundation Award and being honored for her service to Boys Towns of Italy.

Ms. Fontanelli has performed with such prestigious theatres as the Coconut Grove Playhouse and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. A listing of the popular “giants” she has appeared with include Tony Bennett, Joel Grey, Vic Damone, Al Martino, Frankie Avalon, Kaye Ballard, Joan Rivers, Sergio Franchi, and many others. Her “popular” dates have included appearances at the Trump Taj Mahal and Marina Casinos and the Tropicana Hotel in Atlantic City, the Manor (W. Orange, NJ) and on the Crystal and Cunard Cruise Lines. She is a favorite at many Italian Festivals throughout the U.S. including Milwaukee (the largest in the world - more than 10 appearances), Youngstown, Ohio (following in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra), Chicago and L.I.’s Eisenhower Park.

Her beautiful soprano voice has taken her to the White House as part of President Clinton’s holiday celebration, to Gracie Mansion at the invitation of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to the Governor’s mansion in Princeton, N.J., to Washington, D.C. for the National Italian American Foundation, to Lincoln Center with stars from the Metropolitan Opera, to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City for the Columbus Citizens Foundation gala honoring Franco Zeffirelli and to a special function honoring Maestro Riccardo Muti.

Ms. Fontanelli has recorded for the Meadowlands Record Company label - “Cristina Fontanelli Sings Great Italian Favorites” produced by platinum record award-winning songwriter/producer Sandy Linzer.

She is much in demand for radio broadcasts across the country and has had the privilege of appearing on NY’s WQXR Robert Sherman Show, the Joe Franklin Show, the Joey Reynolds Show and Boston’s WGBH with host Ron Della Chiesa. TV appearances have included the “Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon” and RAI/USA’s “Italians in America” and “NJ’s Talking” with host Lee Leonard.

Ms. Fontanelli was born in Brooklyn, New York of Italian heritage and is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has also attended the Juilliard School in New York.

Many major publications, including The New York Times, have praised Ms. Fontanelli’s singing as having “technical ease” and “flaunting bravura”, but perhaps this quote taken from a recent review best sums up the artistry of this versatile soprano - she is a “show stopper”.