Photo credit: Janet Donovan
You won’t find “Opera Pop” in Webster’s dictionary, but Wikipedia defines it as ‘a sub-genre of pop music that is performed in an operatic singing style, or a song, theme or motif from classical music stylized as pop.’ We asked ABC7’s Scott Thuman if he knew what “Opera Pop” was prior to the performance. “An uneducated guess is that it’s a small group of performers singing popular songs in an Opera style” he answered. “I’m going to say that it would be like Bruno Mars sung in Italian with a classic tone.” We’re going with awesome!
Tenor Enrico Giovagnoli and Soprano Francesa Carli
The “Duo Opera Pops” were sensational at the Christmas party hosted at Villa Firenze by Ambassador Claudio and Laura Denise Bisogniero as they voyaged from stage to guests to balconies where they engaged in Christmas carols as an encore.
Opera buff Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, Jr. weighed in after the performance. “It was wonderful,” he said, “especially in light of the holiday season. I love Puccini, so you couldn’t have had a better ending. ” He too did not know what “Opera Pop” was until the evening played out. “I had an idea,” he told Hollywood on the Potomac, “but it surpassed all expectations. It really did.”
Justice Alito, Jr. and Amb. Bisogniero
Enjoying the festivities with the Bisognieros were JoAnn Mason, Buffy Cafritz, Kevin Chaffee, Scott Thuman, John Arundel, Susan Koch, Ann and Lloyd Hand
Diane Rehm, Helene Cooper, Susan Blumenthal, Gail Scott and Marie Royce
We also caught up with former Ambassador to the Vatican Jim Nicholson and his wife Suzanne. We wanted to know if anything could surpass that experience. No surprises there…..the answer was obvious…….. Other Ambassadors present were Walter and Didi Cutler.
Jim and Suzanne Nicholson
Seriously AWESOME: