The tenor and the soprano: A match made in music

As children, they dreamed. As adults, they live those dreams together on stages all over the world and found home sweet home in Millstone.

Entertainers Donna and Tony Buonauro, Millstone, who have performed all over the world, take over hosting summer concert series at Jenkinson’s Inlet Beach. Donna and Tony Buonauro both developed a passion for entertaining as children. When they met while studying music in college and later married, they had a mutual admiration for each other’s talent but never really considered singing together. After years of performing separately and missing each other when traveling, they focused on creating an act together.

The Buonauros combined musical styles to bring a dynamic musical experience of classical, pop, Broadway, opera and standards to audiences of all ages. Their act has helped them realize new dreams, taking them all over the globe to share their gift of song.

Both credit a parent with starting them on their life journey. Donna learned about life behind a microphone while singing in her father Dominic Alagna’s band. She traveled the nightclub circuit across the country from New York’s The Ballroom to Los Angeles’ Gardenia Room. Tony’s mother, Theresa, filled his soul with a passion for opera and Neapolitan music and started him with vocal lessons at an early age.

“I had asthma as a child, and my mother didn’t know what to do,” he said. “She took me to singing lessons to get my breathing under control. Unfortunately, she passed away before I started singing professionally.”

He studied at the conservatory in Naples every summer and returned home to rock out to the Rolling Stones with friends. His musical experiences as a young adult helped him develop an eclectic taste in music, like his all-time favorite performer Luciano Pavarotti, who could sing a range of classical and contemporary music. Pavarotti’s performances taught Tony that the root of opera is bringing a message to the people.

The couple met at Rowan University in Glassboro, where they were both studying music. They married just out of college. For years, Tony moved quickly from performing on Broadway to the New York Grand Opera and then opera houses around the world, while Donna performed locally.

“We had performed [at Carnegie Hall] on different occasions with separate companies” Tony said. “Performing there together was something we always dreamed about.”

The couple lived that dream after Sept. 11, 2001, when the Vatican invited them to perform the prayer song with a 72-piece orchestra at the Concert for World Peace in Carnegie Hall.

“We’ve been singing together all over the world since then,” Donna said. “We’ve been on every continent. We’re so blessed to be able to do something we love together. It’s an amazing, amazing gift.”

With performing their favorite thing to do and the stage their favorite place to be, the couple brings inspired performances to their audiences.

“When people say that song made me cry or I felt touched by the performance … it’s very rewarding to affect them with your gift,” Tony said.

When a friend who they had been performing with for over a decade — Father Alphonse Stephenson, conductor of Orchestra of St. Peter By the Sea — decided to retire from hosting the summer concert series at Jenskinson’s Inlet Beach after 20 years, Pat Storino, owner of the beach, amusements and pavilion, approached the Buonauros about continuing the tradition.

The couple produced a series of concerts for the venue this summer. The free concerts started June 30 and take place at 7:30 p.m. every Wednesday.

The opening gala concert featured three tenors, including Edward Perretti, of the New York Grand Opera. The second event was “Bobby Byrne’s Irish Show.” Byrne will be back with a Broadway show Aug. 25.

The Buonauros emcee each event and will perform during “Big Bands Then and Now Featuring Sinatra to Buble” on July 28 and the “Magical Evening of Broadway and Pop” on Aug. 11. The latter is an honor close to their heart, because they will perform with college friends who have a story similar to theirs. Tony’s roommate Karl Jurman, who went on to conduct Broadway’s “Lion King,” and Donna’s roommate Mary D’arcy, who went on to perform the leading role in Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera,” also married.

“Roommates that married roommates,” Donna said. “This will be the first time that we all perform together.”

The summer concert series will end with a Labor Day finale Sept. 6 that features an Americana tribute performed by artists who appeared throughout the summer, and fireworks on the beach.

Tony said the concert series is free, highquality entertainment in an “amazing atmosphere.” The Buonauros hope to see neighbors there this year and to continue the tradition next summer.

For the remainder of the year, the couple has plans to tour in Europe. Although they travel all over the world, they love living in Millstone.

“We feel like we’re on vacation when we come back to our house,” Donna said. “It’s a sanctuary to us.”

Tony said he enjoys that neighbors, who don’t know his city life, call him farmer Tony, simply recognizing him as a guy who wears a John Deere cap, loves mowing his lawn and enjoys raising sunflowers.

The couple’s apples didn’t fall far from their tree, with both daughters working in the entertainment industry. Deidre LeGreca serves as director of programming at MSNBC, and Christina Buonauro works at the Oxygen network.

Donna also enjoys teaching music to children with disabilities at the Learning Center in Clifton, where Tony serves as the center’s director.

For more information about the Buonauros and their summer concert series calendar, visit www.tonyanddonna.com.