

Anthony Roth Costanzo
Shirley Thomson
Peppie Johnson
“Costanzo is a commanding vocal and stage presence. His Act 2 Hymn to the Sun was unforgettable – exposed, sotto voce but focused and utterly compelling; a man alone with his god.”
(Opera Magazine, April 2019)
Grammy Award-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo was named Musical America’s 2019 Vocalist of the Year and was honoured with both the Beverly Sills Award from The Metropolitan Opera and the Opera News Award in 2020. Costanzo came to international attention when he took First Prize at Operalia in 2010 going on to become one of the most versatile, innovative and creative artists of his time.
A uniquely engaging performer, early debuts took Costanzo to the Glyndebourne Festival as Eustazio (Rinaldo), Houston Grand Opera as Giulio Cesare, Teatro Real Madrid as Apollo (Death in Venice), San Francisco Opera as Armindo (Partenope), English National Opera as Ixbalanqué (Indian Queen) and Finnish National Opera as Spirit/Angel in Saariaho’s Only the sound remains. At The Metropolitan Opera, he appeared as Ferdinand and Prospero in the world premiere of The Enchanted Island, Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), Unulfo (Rodelinda), and he appeared at Santa Fe Opera in the 2021 world premiere of John Corigliano’s Lord of Cries, marking his Festival debut.
Anthony’s stand-out interpretation of Philip Glass’ Akhnaten in Phelim McDermott’s unforgettable production seen at The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera and English National Opera has earned him universal acclaim for his “touchingly vulnerable portrayal” (Telegraph) and won him the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.
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An exclusive recording artist for Decca Gold, Costanzo’s debut album Glass Handel was Grammy-nominated and presented in a multimedia, immersive run of performances at Opera Philhadelphia, New York’s St John the Divine and, with the ENO Orchestra and conductor Karen Kamensek, at London’s Printworks as part of the 2022 BBC Proms. His subsequent release Only an Octave Apart, a collaboration with Justin Vivian Bond, was recently presented as a live musical fantasia at St Ann’s New York and subsequently comes to Wilton’s Music Hall in London as part of his 2022/23 season.
Costanzo conceived and produced the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s Bandwagon project, an initiative which spontaneously took its musicians to every borough of New York City ensuring classical music continued to be heard while theatres were closed during the pandemic. As the orchestra’s Artist-in-Residence in the 2021/22 season, Anthony curated and performed in a series of special concerts with Jaap van Zweden and other collaborators as part of a two-week festival entitled “Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within”.
Elsewhere on the concert platform, Anthony has performed Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre under Sir Simon Rattle with both Berliner Philharmoniker and London Symphony Orchestra, and under Alan Gilbert with both NDR Elbphilharmonie and New York Philharmonic. With The Cleveland Orchestra he has sung Carmina Burana and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and is a regular soloist in Handel’s Messiah, most recently at Carnegie Hall.
A uniquely collaborative artist, Costanzo has been part of the creation of numerous special projects including The Tales of Genji that incorporated traditional Kabuki, Noh actors, dancers and western music and played to sold-out houses in Kyoto, and, as a member of their Artistic Council, two critically-acclaimed shows at New York’s National Sawdust: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and and Matthew Aucoin’s Orphic Moments.
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“Anthony Roth Costanzo is the super-cool, multi-talented and dauntlessly adventurous American countertenor…Costanzo delivered exquisitely melancholy Handel arias such as Pena tiranna, Stille amare and Lascia ch’io pianga [and] was in excellent voice, his singing sturdily articulated and secure”
“The fine American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo delivered ardent or anguished arias – one of Philip Glass’ specially written for this Prom”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo sings Armindo with mastery and perfect technical control.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo was outstanding as Armindo, singing with gusto and offering a display of physical agility throughout the performance, crowned with a brilliant rendition of his Act III aria.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo took the concept of acrobatics further, not only with regard to the vocal pyrotechnics required [as Armindo], but also because Alden’s staging requires him to tap, dance flamenco, and sing upside down”
“In the role of the foolish lover Armindo, Anthony Roth Costanzo attracts the favours of the Madrid public and reaps the rewards of a staging which offers him the opportunity to indulge in a thousand antics…his countertenor timbre is full-bodied and ideally suited to the Handelian style, the rigour of which he has already mastered.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo is outstanding in the title-role [of Akhnaten], as he was in London and Los Angeles. Waxed, buffed and daubed in gold, he commands the stage. His golden countertenor has a gleaming top”
“Dionysus was written for the specific and spectacular gifts of Anthony Roth Costanzo, making his Santa Fe Opera debut. Mr Costanzo does not disappoint, deploying his warm countertenor with assurance and purpose…Anthony’s appealing instrument almost works against the nefarious intent of the character, but he is such an accomplished stage creature that he compensates with barely controlled menace.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo, as Dionysus, applied the same steely sensuousness”
“Superstar Anthony Roth Costanzo, with his flamboyant stage presence, captures the mysterious and supernatural nature of the demigod, capable of charming and later destroying. This type of androgynous voice could not be better suited for the role.”
“The role of Dionysus was written specifically for Costanzo and he supplied just the right degree of androgynous otherworldliness for the part, never venturing into caricature. His voice, secure and powerful, cast a spell on the room.”
“Of course it helps when the countertenor is Anthony Roth Costanzo. [His voice] filled the huge Met theatre admirably and eerily.”
“Mr Costanzo sings the opening phrases of a hymn of acceptance with gleaming high notes and melting sound the cut through the orchestra with surprising ease…Mr Costanzo sings with exceptional tenderness while bringing out inflections in the music that hint at the character’s isolation and insecurity.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo was a perfect choice, as he is a distinctive artist with a flair for self-presentation and a firm, light voice, which projects power without ever letting the audience forget the underlying vulnerability of his own naked body beneath the robes.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo repeats his eerie, evocative countertenor singing in the title role”
“Costanzo has a remarkable control over dynamics, more-so than most countertenors, and this makes him a more dramatic singer than others. Listening to the soft, sweet “Lascia ch’io pianga”, the words sewn together with an impeccable legato, one is touched by sadness…The vengeance aria “Vivi, tiranno” from Rodelinda is delivered with passion and rage. Cascades of perfectly placed notes, flawless diction, trills and endless breath turn this into the showpiece it ought to be.”
“Costanzo is a commanding vocal and stage presence. His Act 2 Hymn to the Sun was unforgettable – exposed, sotto voce but focused and utterly compelling; a man alone with his god.”
“Very few singers can bring such high-calibre acting to a concert appearance as does the American countertenor…Costanzo conveyed overwhelming despair and longing in Tolomeo’s gut-wrenching poison aria, “Stille amare.” In “Vivi, tiranno” from Handel’s Rodelinda, Costanzo’s runs built on one another to tell a story that mirrored the exasperated drama of the text”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo sings Akhnaten with a penetrating countertenor that can fill the theatre.”
“… as dignified and vulnerable in his robes of state as he is in his nakedness. His protracted death scene is weirdly moving.”
“In the title role, the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo acts with fabulous control and sings with an otherworldly bareness of tone that captures the Pharoah’s increasing remoteness from his warring nation.”
“Costanzo convinces us that the aria couldn’t be sung any other way…The album is engaging from first note to last.”
“The Costanzo countertenor is remarkable for its purity, sweetness, its ethereal, rather disembodied sound, not to mention an exemplary capability for fioritura…This discis a pleasure and one of the best countertenor albums in recent memory.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo’s sexless, disembodied countertenor is exactly right for the Voice of Apollo”
“With so much going on, one might have wondered where to look, except for the fact that Costanzo, with his charisma, sensitivity, plangent sound and communicative power, magnetized attention. He alone would have been more than enough, but it’s unlikely that many audience members had any regrets about being treated to this excessive, ultimately joyous experience.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo – his countertenor ample, generous and characterful – brings real vocal brilliance to the roll of Roane, the stage manager.”
“Star countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo created a frightening and compelling Nero. He caressed notes and phrases with an exquisite attention that was never pretentious…hurling out vocal runs and high notes as breathtaking as they were chilling. His lithe presence and catlike grace endowed Nero with even more menace.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo’s portrayal of Nero, the tyrannical emperor of Rome, was searing.”
Anthony Roth Costanzo, making his Florida Grand Opera debut as Orfeo, scored a triumph with his strong, sustained singing, and some hauntingly beautiful piannissimi in ‘Che faro senza Euridice.’ Blessed with natural acting abilities, and using lithe movements, he achieved a complete characterization.”
“In a star turn, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo dominated the stage, giving a memorable vocal and dramatic performance as Orfeo…his voice is large and voluptuous. Costanzo’s trills and ornaments were assayed with spot-on accuracy in a voice that is superbly controlled”
“As the Boy and First Angel, the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo adroitly navigates the luminous and piercing, the gentle and chilly sides of his two-sided character.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo cut the air with his first, unnerving note. He gave his sound cottony softness for intimate moments, but brought back its thrilling steel for dramatic crises.”
“Agile and athletic, Costanzo fills the Resilience Theater with a commanding Caesar, able to blaze through Handel’s fiendish coloratura with breath to spare, then quieting the house with subdued ardour when wooing his Cleopatra.”
“Leading the countertenor charge was the handsome, charismatic Anthony Roth Costanzo, who dug fearlessly into Caesar’s wide dramatic and musical range. His pointed, clear-toned voice was haunting in his Act 3 lament, then thrilling as he dispatched slithery melismas with abandon in ‘Quel torrent, che cade dal monte’
“as usual, Costanzo was extraordinary. He sang with plush yet virile sound while merging into his character, holding back nothing.”
“Costanzo’s voice is still very much in its prime, but since the time when he first dazzled audiences, at The Met in 2011, it has acquired a touch of grit in its lower reaches, and a bit of a wild edge on top.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo put his penetrating countertenor and astringent diction to find use as the petulant Prince Go-Go”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo gives Prince Go-Go luminous pathos”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo stood out as Prince Go-Go as his countertenor displayed exceptional style and precision.”
“Costanzo captures perfectly the other-worldliness and sexual ambivalence of Akhnaten.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo shone with a beautiful, penetrating countertenor as Akhnaten”
“Dulcet-voiced countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sang Roane with bell-like tones”
“Costanzo was vocally impressive and dramatically engaging as Scott’s close chum Roane Heckle.”
“Anthony Roth Costanzo was touchingly vulnerably”
“Costanzo brings to the title role a voice that packs more raw power than any countertenor I can remember”
“As Akhnaten, Costanzo seemed perfect for the role, his voice not only blessed with the requisite strength, but also of a decidedly otherworldly quality.”
“Leading the cast is the American countertenor, Anthony Roth Costanzo, whose ethereal tones embody the doomed Akhnaten.”
Shirley Thomson
Peppie Johnson
