Anthony Roth Costanzo

Mr. Costanzo has been named The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence for the New York Philharmonic’s 2021–22 with the centerpieces of his activities being Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within, two consecutive weeks of programming he co-curated to reflect on questions of identity. This season he also returns to the Metropolitan Opera in his acclaimed performance of the title role in Akhnaten (seen at the Met in the fall of 2019 and in the Met’s Live in HD series, with a CD and DVD forthcoming) and as Unulfo in Rodelina, to the Teatro Real in Madrid in Partenope, and to Boston Baroque with performances of Amadigi di Gaula. He also appears in recital in Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Estonia.

Despite the cancellations of the 20/21 season pandemic, Costanzo found opportunities for virtual and live performance including his debut at the Santa Fe Opera in the title role of world premiere of John Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries, and appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, The Guggenheim Works and Process, Bang on a Can, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Phillips Collection, New York Pops Up, and many more. He also created and produced the New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon initiative, the orchestra’s innovative response to the ongoing pandemic. It began with 81 impromptu concerts in all five boroughs of New York City, where Mr. Costanzo, musicians from the orchestra, and other special guests performed a wide range of repertoire, including world-premiere commissions. It evolved into a series of festivals created with partner organizations throughout the city, which utilize the resources of the Philharmonic to center and amplify the voices of the community.

Mr. Costanzo is an exclusive recording artist with Decca Gold, and his first album, ARC – a collection of arias by Handel and Phillip Glass with Les Violons du Roy – was released in September 2018 and nominated for the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. With the album, he produced the multi-disciplinary performance installation Glass Handel, involving artists such as Tilda Swinton, George Condo, and Raf Simons, and creating 9 music videos which were released as a visual album on Apple Music.”

Costanzo has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Dallas Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Spoleto Festival USA, Glimmerglass Festival, and Finnish National Opera.

In concert he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Baroque, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the London Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has also been presented in recital in Vancouver, Princeton University Concerts, Duke Performances, and at the Morgan Library in New York. He has performed at a wide-ranging variety of venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Versailles, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, Minamiza Kyoto, Joe’s Pub, The Guggenheim, The Park Avenue Armory, and Madison Square Garden.

A champion of new work, Mr. Costanzo created roles in the world premieres of Jimmy Lopez’s Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Jake Heggie’s Great Scott at the Dallas Opera. He has also premiered works written for him by Joel Thompson, Matthew Aucoin, Paola Prestini, Gregory Spears, Viet Cuong, Suzanne Farrin, Bernard Rands, Scott Wheeler, Mohammed Fairouz, Steve Mackey, and Nico Muhly.

Mr. Costanzo has begun working as a producer and curator in addition to his singing, creating shows for The New York Philharmonic, Opera Philadelphia, National Sawdust, the Philharmonia Baroque, The Barnes Foundation, St. John The Divine, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, Master Voices and Kabuki-Za Tokyo. In film, he played Francis in the Merchant Ivory film, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and Simon in Brice Cauvin’s De particulier a particulier. He is the first countertenor to host Met Opera Live in HD Broadcasts.

Named 2019 Musical America Vocalist of the Year, Mr. Costanzo’s many other awards include first place in the 2012 Operalia competition, a Grand Finals Winner of the 2009 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a George London Award, a career grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the first countertenor to win First Place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullom competition, where he also won the audience choice prize. He has also received a Sullivan Foundation Award, and won First Place in the Opera Index Competition, the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, and the Jensen Foundation Competition.

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 and where he has returned to teach. He received his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he now serves on the board of Trustees. In his youth, he performed on Broadway and in Broadway National Tours including A Christmas Carol, The Sound of Music, and Falsettos. He began his operatic endeavors playing Miles in The Turn of the Screw and shortly thereafter sang alongside Luciano Pavarotti.