Three Tenors Plus One

The Opera Club of The Villages Proudly Presents Three Tenors Plus One: That’s Amore! Gracing the Sharon stage with two performances of lovingly hand picked Opera selections performed by world class vocalists. Maestro Bill Doherty will accompany the Three Tenors – Christopher Macchio, Benjamin Ruiz, and Todd Wilander – with Plus One Maria Steinhilber, as they bring the music to life.

Proceeds from this performance go to benefiting the Harold S. Schwartz Music Scholarship Program.

The Opera Club of The Villages is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the community through the presentation and support of opera, classical music, and high-quality entertainment. The organization promotes excellence in vocal artistry and seeks to encourage the development of emerging performers through educational initiatives, performance opportunities, live opera presentations, and the awarding of scholarships to deserving music students.

Meet the Artists:

Christopher Macchio is an international classical-crossover vocalist, known globally for his command performances from the White House balcony on LIVE
International Television. He has 10 consecutive annual sold-out concerts as one of the three New York Tenors at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, solo guest appearances with legendary producer David Foster (producer of Andrea Bocelli), and recently performed duets with Grammy-Winners Peabo Bryson, Al Jardine of the Beach Boys, and American Idol Finalist Haley Reinhart. From his professional debut in a PBS-TV concert special Bell’Aria: Live from Las Vegas, he now regularly performs to sold-out crowds in New York, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles. This winter Mr. Macchio is featured singing in two major Hollywood films, the first (from Oscar-contender director Alejandro Monteverde, who recently set the world on fire with the indie blockbuster (Sound of Freedom), entitled Cabrini, on the life of Saint Mother Cabrini, starring John Lithgow (Third Rock from the Sun). The second is called DON Q starring Armand Assante (Mambo Kings).
Christopher Macchio is a gifted performer with a tenor voice of exceptional power and beauty. Classically trained at the Manhattan School of Music Conservatory, where he starred in Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani (Arturo), he returns to the opera stage this fall at the Wexford Opera House in Ireland, with appearances in Germany slated for 2024. Mr. Macchio began his professional career in 2011 starring in a concert special for PBS Television, followed up with appearances on FOX NEWS CHANNEL, FOX-TV, NBC-TV, ABC-TV, RAI International, and has now expanded into acting and studio recording with roles in two Hollywood Films and his two album releases, Daiei Momenti and Oh Holy Night.
Mr. Macchio performs music across the musica l spectrum in over a dozen languages, from classical arias, to Italian folk classics, to Broadway favorites, right in to the modern age with renditions of ballads from the songbooks of Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban. There’s truly something for every ear, woven together seamlessly by stirring orchestra l arrangements scaling from intimate to stadium-sized venues. Christopher Macchio is an artistic force to behold, and always leaves his audiences breathless and yearning for more!

Award-winning Tenor, Benjamin Ruiz, has been described by Bach Track as “wonderfully intense” and “very well-voiced”. Ruiz began his operatic journey playing Young LBJ in the world premiere of Lady Bird: The First Lady of the Land. And in the year following, made his European Debut with Mittelsächsisches Theatre as Profesor Würchem in Der Vogelhändler. Ruiz is an alumnus of Manhattan School of Music in New York City, where he received his Masters in Voice Performance as the recipient of the Edgar Foster Daniel’s Foundation Scholarship. At MSM, he performed several principal roles in Manhattan School of Music’s acclaimed Main Stage productions under the baton of Maestro’s George Manahan and the Metropolitan Opera’s Pierre Vallet. Outside of operatic performances, he has been invited to perform in master classes hosted by the Metropolitan Opera’s Chorus Master, Donald Palumbo, as well as the Donizetti Festival in New York City for Javier Camarena. In concert, Ruiz joined Courtney’s Stars of Tomorrow as an emerging artist debuting in the 2022 Concert Series “Opera in the Park” and with the Grammy-Award winning Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra during OTSL’s Center Stage Concert in 2024. Ruiz made his American and Lyric Opera of Kansas City Debut as Beppe in Pagliacci; and additionally performed Ollie in Sketchbook for Ollie, and Tybalt in Romeo et Juliette. Shortly afterwards he joined the prestigious Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he made his OTSL debut as Prune Man in La Bohéme. This 2025 season, Ruiz joined the world-renowned Apprentice Program for Singers at The Santa Fe Opera, where he study-covered the role of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and performed in the Apprentice Scenes. Quickly following his engagement with The Santa Fe Opera, Ruiz will role and house debut as Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte with Opera San José in their 2025-2026 season opener. He will return to reprise his role of Beppe in Pagliacci, then again in the spring to debut the roles of Gastone and Alfredo in La Traviata. Ruiz has placed and won awards in the Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition, the Texoma National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Alan M. and Joan Taub Ades Voice Competition, and is a 1st Prize Winner of the Inaugural Duncan Williams Voice Competition, hosted by New York City Opera, Manhattan School of Music, and the Sphinx foundation.

Todd Wilander – Praised by Opera News for his “clear and sweet lyrical tone” and “brave, vocally assured portrayals” (New York Times), Todd Wilander is one of America’s most sought-after leading tenors. Since winning The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, he has appeared with the company singing Arturo LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (James Levine), Harry LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST and Ensemble 15 THE NOSE (HD Movie) and covered many roles including Almaviva IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, Beppe I PAGLIACCI, Der Narr WOZZECK, American Congressman TWO BOYS, Marcellus HAMLET, Gambler 1 GAMBLER, Malcolm MACBETH and Young Prisoner FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD.

Upcoming engagements include a return to the Metropolitan Opera for Riccardo UN BALLO IN MASCHERA and Don Alvaro LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Samson SAMSON ET DALILA with Theater Erfurt (Germany) and Turiddu CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA with the Verdi Opera Chorus of Los Angeles.

Maria Steinhilber is a coloratura soprano from Germany. She graduated with a master’s degree in opera singing from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia. After graduation she was a Resident Artist with Central Florida Lyric Opera with whom she made her debut as Frasquita in G. Bizet’s „Carmen“. Her operatic repertoire includes Queen of the Night from W. A. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” (Berlin Opera Academy), Gritli in R. Stolz’s operetta „Himmelblaue Träume“ (Isny Opernfestival), Mrs. Wordsworth in Benjamin Britten’s “Albert Herring” (Slovak National Theater, Bratislava) Adele from the operetta „Die Fledermaus” as well as Madame Herz in Mozart’s “The Impresario.” Maria has participated in various vocal master classes in Europe, among others with Pavol Breslik, Vladimír Chmelo, John Thomasson and Franz Hawlata. She was an ensemble member of Junge Oper Stuttgart for five years as well as performing in a youth project of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She has the distinction of being the first singer admitted to the Stuttgarter Künstlerbund (Stuttgart Artists’ Association).