Anthony Roth Costanzo - Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo

‘Vocally brilliant and dramatically fearless.’ – New York Times
‘A bona-fide star.’ – New Yorker
‘A perfect musician.’ – Le Monde
‘Otherworldly.’ – Wall Street Journal
‘One of the world’s most important singers.’ – Los Angeles Times

Nonesuch Records releases the label debut from acclaimed singer Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor. It is a companion to a book of the same name written by Costanzo, out October 27, from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. On the album’s 10 tracks, which feature an ensemble conducted by Dan Schlosberg, Costanzo delves into a wide-ranging survey of falsetto. The record comprises a world premiere recording of a new song by Osvaldo Golijov; arias by Philip Glass, W.A. Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, and Claudio Monteverdi; a traditional Hawaiian song; an early Baroque song by John Dowland; a Renaissance song by Thomas Morly; a Klaus Nomi-inspired interpretation of John Madera and David White’s ‘You Don’t Own Me’; and the classic Frankie Vallie and the Four Season’s tune ‘Walk Like a Man’.

“This album, along with the book, is a history and a personal history. You’ll hear the register I speak in, my chest voice, juxtaposed with the register I sing in, my head voice, sometimes in rapid succession as in the frenzied duet with myself from the Marriage of Figaro,” Costanzo says in the album’s liner note. “When I slide between the two sounds, like the steel guitar in a Hawaiian song I love, you can hear a yodel pop forth as I bridge the divide. That voice crack is the gateway to the tessitura that has transformed my life and career and shaped the way I think about creating art and inhabiting my authentic self.

“For me, being a countertenor means having access to a remarkable instrument that's unique – not just for the sounds it makes and for what it allows me to express, but also for what it comes to represent to the listener and how it can permeate realms of the conscious and the subconscious,” he continues.

Costanzo’s book, Countertenor, is an exploration of the history of the countertenor by “one of opera’s biggest stars” (New York Times). Costanzo takes readers on a journey through his life, his education in art, and the history of his extraordinary voice type. Countertenors, he tells us, have helped define contemporary opera for more than half a century, having inherited a repertoire originally written for castrated men in the baroque period. Part oddity, part divinity, the castrati were surgically altered before puberty. They are key to understanding the development of opera as a form, from its very origins to its expansion in the public sphere.

The striking beauty and sheer otherness of the high male voice provide fertile ground for creative invention and innovation, evocatively challenging conventional notions of gender, sexuality, and identity. With wit, humor, and irrepressible energy, Costanzo offers insights into the contours of the countertenor and his own artistic career as both an opera singer and a producer and curator.

GRAMMY-winning countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He is the General Director and President of Opera Philadelphia, and the Artistic Director of SongStudio at Carnegie Hall.

Costanzo begins his 2026-27 season with a return to the Metropolitan Opera, where he performs in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli's Lincoln in the Bardo. He is the countertenor with the most performances in the history of the Metropolitan and the first to host their live in HD Broadcasts. He has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera companies and orchestras including Opera National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Teatro Real, New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw, The Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, and NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, among others.

He has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Versailles, Madison Square Garden, The Hollywood Bowl, Kabuki-Za Tokyo, the Guggenheim, the Park Avenue Armory, and Little Island. As a producer, he has created projects for the Paris Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Proms, Bloomberg Philanthropies, WQXR, and St. Ann’s Warehouse, among others.

Costanzo is a recipient of the Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera and the History Maker Award from New York Historical. He is a winner of the Opera News Award, and the Musical America Vocalist of the Year. His many other awards include first place in Operalia competition, Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his role in a Merchant Ivory film.

He graduated with honours from Princeton University and Manhattan School of Music, where he was also awarded an honorary doctorate. He is now on their board of trustees along with being on the boards of National Black Theater and Performance Space New York. He has been a visiting fellow at Oxford University, and a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard.