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ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway.

Future seasons include Mr. Costanzo’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera, followed by the role of Ferdinand in their new Baroque Pasticcio The Enchanted Island. He also debuts with The Opera Company of Philadelphia as Artemis in the U.S. Premiere of Henze’s Phaedra, as Ottone in Agrippina at the Boston Lyric Opera, and in the title role of Orfeo ed Euridice at the Palm Beach Opera. In 2010, he made his debuts at the New York City Opera as Armindo in Partenope, and the New York Philharmonic as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre. He also returned to Glimmerglass Opera to sing the title role in their new production of Handel’s Tolomeo. Last fall, he debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, returned to Carnegie Hall for performances of Messiah with Musica Sacra, and appeared as Polinesso in Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Ariodante with the Juilliard Opera Center. Last summer, he sang the Sorceress in Jonathan Miller’s production of Dido and Aeneas at Glimmerglass Opera.

Mr. Costanzo was named a Grand Finals Winner of the 2009 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after performing in the Grand Finals Concert at the Metropolitan Opera with Patrick Summers conducting. In 2010, he won a George London Award, received a career grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and became the first countertenor to ever win First Place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullom competition, where he also won Audience Choice. He recently won a Sullivan Foundation Award, became the first countertenor to ever win First Place in the Opera Index Competition, was the First Place winner in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Artist Division, won First Place in the Jensen Foundation Competition, and won Second Place in the Palm Beach Opera Competition, Advanced Division. Mr. Costanzo has also received encouragement awards from the George London Foundation Competition, the Jensen Foundation, and the Mario Lanza Foundation as well as a grant from the Giulio Gari Foundation.

In the 2008/2009 season Mr. Costanzo appeared as a guest artist with Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program to perform the role of Oberon in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In the summer of 2008, he performed the role of Nireno and covered the role of Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Glimmerglass Opera as a member of the company’s acclaimed Young American Artists Program. During the 2007/2008 season, Mr. Costanzo performed the title role in Manhattan School of Music’s mainstage production of Griffelkin by Lucas Foss. Mr. Costanzo has also performed the roles of the First Witch and the Second Woman in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Spoleto Festival USA and debuted with Santa Barbara Opera Company as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. As a young teenager, he performed in Amahl and the Night Visitors at Lincoln Center and with the Opera Company of North Carolina, made a critically acclaimed debut with the New Jersey Opera Festival as Miles in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and appeared with Luciano Pavarotti in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music’s Opera Extravaganza.

On the concert and recital platforms, Mr. Costanzo has been a featured soloist with the orchestras of Indianapolis, Alabama, Detroit, Denver, Seattle, and was the soloist in the premiere of John Corigliano's A Dylan Thomas Trilogy with the National Symphony Orchestra at both the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has sung Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées in a theater piece at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, performed Stefan Weisman’s From Frankenstein at Merkin Concert Hall, and premiered composer Gregory Spears’s hour-long piece 6 Owen Songs. Additional New York City appearances include performances at Le Poisson Rouge, the Asia Society, Simon Hammerstein’s The Box and at prominent art gallery Deitch Projects. Internationally, Mr. Costanzo has performed the title role in Balletto Teatro di Torino’s ballet Caravaggio with original music by Giovanni Solima and toured Italy as the Master of Ceremonies in Karole Armitage's Casanova.

While studying at Princeton University, Mr. Costanzo co-wrote, produced and starred in a narrative pasticcio about the life of a fictional 18th-Century Castrato entitled The Double Life of Zefirino. The work was directed by Karole Armitage, with costumes by James Ivory and sets by Andrea Branzi, and was performed in the University’s Richardson Auditorium. A documentary about the creation of the piece was directed by filmmaker Gerardo Puglia and was subsequently selected for the Cannes Film Festival and qualified for an Academy Award. It will air on PBS affiliates during the 2010 season.

Mr. Costanzo made his film debut in the role of Francis in the Merchant Ivory film, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, earning international critical acclaim as well as a nomination for Best Debut Performance from the Independent Spirit Awards. He also appeared as Simon in Brice Cauvin’s film De Particulier à Particulier and can be heard singing in M Blash’s film Lying, and James Ivory’s upcoming film The City of Your Final Destination.

Mr. Costanzo’s professional performance career began with the Broadway touring production of Falsettos and he continued to work for several years in musical theater, touring with Marie Osmond in The Sound of Music and appearing on Broadway in the Paramount Theater production of A Christmas Carol.

The subject of the Winter 2007 edition of ME Magazine, Mr. Costanzo was also profiled with Yoko Ono, David Byrne, and Liza Minelli in Visionaire’s 2008 Sound Issue.

Mr. Costanzo graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University where he was awarded the Lewis Sudler Prize for extraordinary achievement in the arts. He received his Masters of Music at Manhattan School of Music and was awarded the Hugh Ross Award for a singer of unusual promise. He currently resides in New York City.

More info at www.anthonyrothcostanzo.com