©Photo: Matthu Placek

Anthony Roth Costanzo

Counter-tenor

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“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)

A versatile and engaging performer, Anthony Roth Costanzo was propelled to international attention by his First Prize win at Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition with several European debuts ensuing, including Eustazio (Rinaldo) at the Glyndebourne Festival, Apollo (Death in Venice) at Teatro Real Madrid, Ixbalanqué (Indian Queen) at English National Opera, and Spirit/Angel in Saariaho’s Only the sound remains at Finnish National Opera. Recent operatic highlights include debuts as Giulio Cesare for Houston Grand Opera, Nerone (L’incoronazione di Poppea) at Cincinnati Opera, and Boy/First Angel in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Opera Philadelphia, alongside Unulfo (Rodelinda) at the Metropolitan Opera, Armindo (Partenope) at San Francisco Opera, and Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) at Florida Grand Opera.

A strong affinity with contemporary works, Roth Costanzo was part of the world premieres of both Jake Heggie’s Great Scott at Dallas Opera and Jimmy Lopéz’s Bel Canto at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and his stand-out debut performances as Philip Glass’ Akhnaten at English National Opera, LA Opera and, most recently, The Met earned him universal acclaim for his “melting sound that cut through the orchestra with surprising ease” (New York Times), and his “touchingly vulnerable portrayal” (Telegraph). This season Anthony returns to The Met as Tolomeo (Giulio Cesare) under Harry Bicket, to Santa Fe Opera in a world premiere, and to LA Opera in a new project devised with Matthew Aucoin, Veils for Desire – featuring 17^th century masterpieces of Monteverdi to contemporary works from Aucoin and narrated by Wayne Koestenbaum, the project reimagines the traditional chamber concert experience for today’s audiences.

Excerpt from Le Grand Macabre © NDR Elbphilharmonie

In concert, 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, joined The Cleveland Orchestra for Carmina Burana and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and regularly sings Handel’s Messiah, most recently at Carnegie Hall. This season, he joins Philharmonia Baroque for a new commission by Matthew Aucoin paired with Bach Cantatas, and gives recitals with San Francisco Performances, the Phillips Collection, the Cleveland Art Song Festival, and in Moscow and Tallinn with Valeria Polunina.

As an exclusive recording artist for Decca Gold, Anthony’s first album Glass Handel, in collaboration with Les Violons du Roy and Jonathan Cohen, was Grammy-nominated and launched as a multi-disciplinary and immersive run of performances at Opera Philhadelphia and St John the Divine in New York to universal acclaim.

A hugely creative and collaborative artist, Roth Costanzo has been part of the creation of several unique 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, together with choreographer Karole Armitage and filmmaker James Ivory, a pasticcio about castrati which was chronicled by the documentarian Gerardo Puglia and subsequently selected for the Cannes Film Festival, qualified for an Academy Award, and aired on PBS affiliates. As a member of their Artistic Council, Anthony has produced and starred in two critically acclaimed shows at National Sawdust in New York: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo and Orphic Moments, the latter devised by Matthew Aucoin in combination with Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and also staged at the Salzburger Landestheater.

Gallery

The Hymn to the Sun extract, Akhnaten © Metropolitan Opera

Duparc: L’invitation au Voyage © WQXR

“Of course it helps when the countertenor is Anthony Roth Costanzo. [His voice] filled the huge Met theatre admirably and eerily.”

(Opera Mag, Jan 2020)

“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 Tommasini, New York Times, Nov 2019)

“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.”

(Anne Midgette, Washington Post, Nov 2019)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo repeats his eerie, evocative countertenor singing in the title role”

(FT, Nov 2019)

“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.”

(Classics Today, April 2019)

“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)

“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”

(Opera News, March 2019)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo sings Akhnaten with a penetrating countertenor that can fill the theatre.”

(Financial Times, Richard Fairman, February 2019)

“… as dignified and vulnerable in his robes of state as he is in his nakedness. His protracted death scene is weirdly moving.”

(Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, February 2019)

“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.”

(The Guardian, February 2019)

“Costanzo convinces us that the aria couldn’t be sung any other way…The album is engaging from first note to last.”

(Opera News, Critics Choice, January 2019)

“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.”

(Opera Canada, January 2019)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo’s sexless, disembodied countertenor is exactly right for the Voice of Apollo”

(George Hall , Opera Magazine, February 2019)

“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.”

(Opera Magzine, December 2018)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo – his countertenor ample, generous and characterful – brings real vocal brilliance to the roll of Roane, the stage manager.”

(Opera Magazine, September 2018)

“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.”

(Cincinnati City Beat, June 2018)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo’s portrayal of Nero, the tyrannical emperor of Rome, was searing.”

(Cincinnati Business Courier, June 2018)

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.”

(Opera, August 2018)

“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”

(South Florida Classical Review, March 2018)

“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.”

(Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, February 2018)

“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.”

(Bachtrack, February 2018)

“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.”

(Houston Press, October 2017)

“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’

(Houston Chronicle, October 2017)

“as usual, Costanzo was extraordinary. He sang with plush yet virile sound while merging into his character, holding back nothing.”

(Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, July 2017)

“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.”

( The New Yorker, July 2017)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo put his penetrating countertenor and astringent diction to find use as the petulant Prince Go-Go”

( Classical Source, January 2017)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo gives Prince Go-Go luminous pathos”

(The Arts Desk, January 2017)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo stood out as Prince Go-Go as his countertenor displayed exceptional style and precision.”

(Music OMH, January 2017)

“Costanzo captures perfectly the other-worldliness and sexual ambivalence of Akhnaten.”

(San Francisco Classical Voice, November 2016)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo shone with a beautiful, penetrating countertenor as Akhnaten”

(Classical Voice North America, November 2016)

“Dulcet-voiced countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sang Roane with bell-like tones”

(Opera Today, May 2016)

“Costanzo was vocally impressive and dramatically engaging as Scott’s close chum Roane Heckle.”

(Bachtrack, May 2016)

“Anthony Roth Costanzo was touchingly vulnerably”

(Telegraph, March 2016)

“Costanzo brings to the title role a voice that packs more raw power than any countertenor I can remember”

(Bachtrack, March 2016)

“As Akhnaten, Costanzo seemed perfect for the role, his voice not only blessed with the requisite strength, but also of a decidedly otherworldly quality.”

(Seen & Heard, March 2016)

“Leading the cast is the American countertenor, Anthony Roth Costanzo, whose ethereal tones embody the doomed Akhnaten.”

(The Stage, March 2016)