Interview: Anthony Roth Costanzo Takes an Art Bath

Anthony Roth Costanzo is taking a break from rehearsing Handel's RHODELINDA at the Metropolitan Opera. He has a few minutes to talk about singing countertenor both in opera and in popular music. "Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi all wrote for countertenor - they were composing for castrati." Fortunately the creation of castrati ended, but, alas, so did composing for countertenor. "All the roles are before 1750 and after 1950."

But there's one area, Costanzo points out, where the countertenor range stayed alive - popular music. The 1950s and 1960s were filled with countertenor vocal lines in musical groups (think The Beach Boys and "Rag Doll"), and " countertenor is falsetto. Prince used it. So does Justin Bieber." Costanzo himself is no stranger to popular music - he started out in Broadway musicals and national tours, in THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE MUSIC MAN, and, fittingly, in FALSETTOS, among other productions. Later came Princeton, and after that, opera His Metropolitan Opera debut was in AKHNATEN by Philip Glass, and he'll be returning to the role at the Met later this season.

The Met hardly takes up all of his time: he's also in residence at the New York Philharmonic, where during the height of the pandemic he was ringing music to the boroughs on the back of a pickup truck. "I'm excited to find new ways to bring music to people. There are so many people now who are so creative with ideas.". He has also worked with the Bronx Arts Ensemble, and he praises their ingenuity with creating musical opportunities.

In his spare time - where does he find it? - he's been working with the eternally creative Justin Vivian Bond, and they've created both the show and the CD ONLY AN OCTAVE APART, which opened at St. Ann's Warehouse. Their collaboration covers everything from the Great American Songbook to "Egyptian Sun" (you remember it as "walk like an Egyptian.") He likes producing his own work, not just for the exposure but for the range of ideas he can explore.

Right now he's about to be at Art Bath, in the first of several monthly interdisciplinary arts events at the Blue Building. " Art Bath was started by some of my Met colleagues on being able to bring different arts together and reaching new audiences. Everyone will be performing things they don't usually do. I'll be reviewing my musical theatre days and looking into jazz standards."

Costanzo will be following RHODELINDA at the Metropolitan Opera with the new production of AKHNATEN. He'll.also be performing with Opera Baroque in Boston an at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.

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