St. Ann's Feast: Cristina Fontanelli Closes 100th Year Celebration

Performing Italian classics, Sinatra hits and Andrew Lloyd Webber favorites to an enthusiastic crowd, award-winning international recording artist Cristina Fontanelli closed the 100th anniversary of St. Ann's Feast Monday night. The classically trained opera singer and former Hobokenite explained just how much the city means to her.

"I've been to some of the most exotic places on the planet," said Fontanelli, who was the first classically trained female singer to sing in Uganda and Kenya. "But," she added, "here I am at St. Ann's 100th festival. I've been to so many places, but let me tell you something: There's no place like home."

A sentiment she shared throughout her set, Fontanelli explained why she performs at the feast year after year.

The reason is simple. "My roots," Fontanelli said. "My grandparents landed here from Italy on a boat. My mother grew up here. She told me about seeing Frank Sinatra when she was a tiny girl."

Adding, "It's just a special town."  

Fontanelli wowed the crowd with her voice and showcased many Sinatra favorites including "Come Fly with Me" and "New York, New York."

While Fontanelli's alternation between opera and contemporary Sinatra hits impressed, the songs she sang in Italian left the greatest mark. Her soaring soprano accompanied by the Jordan Thomas Orchestra was like no other.

Classics like "Ave Maria," (which she sang during the St. Ann's mass earlier on Monday), Andrea Bocelli's "Con te Partiro" and "Mamma" moved the audience; one fan even approached the stage asking for a tissue.

"I love when people are moved. It's my job to move them," Fontanelli said.  

"My mama Francesca lives in Hoboken and she receives phone calls every year that I have to sing Italian songs," she told the crowd. "How many people speak Italian in this audience? Tonight you're going to hear every Italian song they ever wrote."

And then, complete with a mandolin player, Fontanelli performed "Passione."

"Italians are full of passion. They get all excited and all worked up about something and then they're over in it in five minutes and they go and eat," said Fontanelli, before singing the track. "If it was up to them, the great love of their life or mama's home cooked meatballs and spaghetti; I don't know which one would win." 

A gorgeous performance, the song hails from the region of Naples.

Throughout her set, Fontanelli quizzed the audience on English to Italian translation of her songs. As a result, the audience helped introduce her next tracks.

Having performed at the feast since the start of her career, Fontanelli said she does prepare differently for the outdoors St. Ann's feast.

"Hoboken, it started out as an immigrant town," Fontanelli said. "But now, because of the younger generation, I really try to put songs in that people know like Andrew Lloyd Webber but still keep the flavor of the tradition of the Italian."

Over the years, Fontanelli has faced numerous obstacles but her relentless passion and drive for music is what has kept her going.

"It's been a challenging road including vocally having problems, not having the proper training at one point I couldn't open my mouth. But, I stuck with it to learn how to sing properly. You have to be dedicated. It's costly to study opera. My family wasn't wealthy, so I had to work for it and work hard and stick with it. One of the ways I paid for my voice lessons was by becoming an entertainer. I could sing songs, I didn't need super training to sing songs, so I would sing a show and make money to pay for my opera lessons."

After all of the years performing at the feast, Fontanelli always has the urge to communicate with her audience.  

"You either have that or you don't so that it gets you through all the hardships of what could be trying to build a career. It's not an easy road. I love so many things in life, but this has been my focus for my entire life."

With the goal to preserve Italian music and support Italian American heritage, every year Fontanelli hosts "Christmas in Italy" at Lincoln Center and performs at numerous events around the world. While she's currently looking for a record deal to promote her future album, Fontanelli has a packed calendar. She'll perform for Gucci's second trip to America in September as well as make a trip to California for Jimmy Kimmel's Feast of San Gennaro.

While she continues to travel the country and world for her music, Hobokenites can count on seeing Fontanelli in years to come.

"I'm so grateful to my grandparents who came to Hoboken," she said, "it's the best place on earth in my opinion."