Unplugged: Sean Bianco

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Opera Man

By Marion Anthonisen

“I’m definitely the black sheep of the family,” says opera enthusiast Sean Bianco. “My (relatives) think there are two types of music: country and western. I think I was a genetic anomaly.” The 41-year-old’s affinity for opera extends beyond casual enthusiasm. He owns more than 2,000 opera recordings, conducts four locally based opera companies, teaches voice and violin lessons, and hosts Capital Public Radio’s “Friday Night at the Opera” — all in his spare time.
During the day, Bianco is the office manager for a Davis litigation-support company. “I manage the facilities, which means I get the phones a lot,” he discloses, “It’s mind-numbing computer work, and that’s all I’d like to say about that.” Bianco’s passion is certainly reserved for his out-of-the-office endeavors.
    In the early 1980s, Bianco considered a full-time performing career. He ultimately rejected this path because of what he says he “saw in the industry: the tension, the stress, the divorce rate. I wanted to do music on my own terms, and I knew I would have to have a day job.” To support his love of music without delving too deeply into what he found to be a corrupt industry, Bianco has worked as a housepainter, a truck driver, a cannery worker, a landscaper, an espresso barista worker and a trailer park manager. “I’ve worked a lot of interesting jobs,” he says. “But music has always been there for me as an anchor.”

A Perfect Duet
Music is Bianco’s stronghold, but last summer, it doubled as his matchmaker. “My wife’s a big opera fan. She called into my show and made a request,” Bianco says. “We started talking and immediately knew something was there.” The two married six months later. Paula Sophia Bianco shares her husband’s deep passion for the arts, and she works in Davis as a painter and sculptor.
    Born and raised in Stockton, Bianco was hooked on opera nearly 30 years ago. “As an 11-year-old, I found a box of records for 25 cents at a garage sale,” he recalls. “I played an opera-highlights record on my Fisher-Price turntable, and I just fell in love.” Even today, he prefers vintage, out-of-print recordings. Speaking candidly about opera’s waning popularity, Bianco admits, “Opera’s a hard sell. It’s kept alive on life support by fanatics like me.” The recorded opera industry is disappearing quickly; EMI, previously the largest opera recording label, recently shut down its opera division. He hopes radio shows like his will help rescue opera from this downward spiral.
    Bianco has performed with the Los Angeles, Stockton, Orange County and Sacramento opera companies. With two or three major performances a year, he remains an active performer and conductor, and musicians and arts supporters ask often for his participation in local shows. “If the show interests me, and it’s an opportunity for collaboration, I’m willing to work without pay.” Bianco believes in the practice of music for the sake of music. “It’s the only way to keep an art form alive,” he says. “We have such a tendency to slap a price tag on everything. The performing arts must be above all that.”
    He worries about the immediate future of the performing arts, especially in the wake of extensive funding cuts for elementary and high school arts programs. “I think we’ll look back on this era and say, ‘What were we thinking?’ ”
    Bianco says. “You can’t have a new generation of musicians without feeder programs.” He considers himself lucky to have lived in school districts with vital music programs, but even these schools are vulnerable. “I have to have hope, and it’s inevitable that the pendulum will swing back the other way,” he claims. “I don’t think I will see (the problem) fixed in my lifetime, but I can work toward the change in my lifetime.”
What do his friends think of his opera fanaticism? “They think it’s cool,” he confides, “but I can’t help but wonder if they even talk about ‘crazy old Sean.’ ”
    “It is an addiction,” says Bianco. “You have to have a screw loose to be an opera fan.” 
    “Friday Night at the Opera” can be heard on 88.9 FM every Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight.

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