Concert: Anthony Roth Costanzo on Italian castrati

The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University will present countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo in a lecture-recital on the castratos of 18th-century Italy.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo continues to build his reputation as one of the rising stars of the next generation of singers.

The season, Mr. Costanzo makes his debuts at the Opera Company of Philadelphia in the US premiere of Henze’s Phaedre and at the Boston Lyric Opera as Ottone in Agrippina. He recently made his debuts at the New York City Opera as Armindo in Partenope, the New York Philharmonic as Prince Go-Go in Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, and with the Cleveland Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah.

Mr. Constanzo’s other recent opera engagements have included the title role in Tolomeo, the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aenea and Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the Glimmerglass Opera, a guest appearance as Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program, the First Witch and the Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas at the Spoleto Festival USA, Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Santa Barbara Opera Company, and the title role in Manhattan School of Music’s mainstage production of Lucas Foss’ Griffelkin. In 1994, 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 Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and appeared with Luciano Pavarotti in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music’s Opera Extravaganza.

Mr. Costanzo was recently named one of the winners of a 2010 George London Foundation Award, a 2010 Richard Tucker Career Grant, and First Place and Audience Choice winner of the 2010 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers. In 2009 he was named of the Grand Finals Winners of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Other recent awards include the Sullivan Foundation Award , a grant from the GiulioGari Foundation, encouragement awards the George London Foundation Competition, the Jensen Foundation, and the Mario Lanza Foundation, and First Place winner in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, Vocal Division. He also has the honor of being the first countertenor ever to win First Place in the Opera Index 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. He received his Masters of Music at Manhattan School of Music and was awarded the Hugh Ross Award for a singer of unusual promise.