((PKG)) Countertenor
((TRT: 07:40))
((Topic Banner: The Countertenor))
((Reporter: Anna Nelson))
((Camera: Vladimir Badikov, Maxim Avloshenko))
((Editor: Natalia Latukhina))
((Producer: Dmitry Vershinin))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main characters: 1 male))
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
((Courtesy: "Liquid Days"/Sony Masterworks/Apost Films + YouTube logo))
Wherever I sing, even if it's at the Metropolitan Opera, I feel like at least 50 percent of the audience has never heard a countertenor before. And if you're outside of the Opera House in real life, you know, on the street, I would say even 90 percent of people have no idea what a countertenor is. But they've heard Michael Jackson and they've heard Prince and they've heard, you know, Justin Timberlake and all the people who sing in a falsetto voice. And so, it's both a familiar and a foreign register in some ways. I've used that to my advantage to kind of draw people in and give them a way to connect immediately at first through their shock, and then as they listen hopefully through what we're able to create.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I'm Anthony Roth Costanzo and I'm a countertenor, opera singer, producer, here in New York City.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries"/Capitol Films Merchant Ivory Productions/ "Tell Me What Love Is" / SME + YouTube logo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I began performing professionally when I was 11 years old, first in Broadway, and then by the time I was 13, I started doing opera. And so, my voice was starting to change but I didn't even know it.
And someone around the opera world said, “Are you a countertenor?” And I said, “Well, what is that? I don't know.” And I started listening to the legacy of Alfred Deller, Russell Oberlin and other countertenors since then in our modern times.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: PENA TIRANNA / UMG/ PixPicts + YouTube logo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
And I never thought about needing to feel masculine by being low. In fact, I never associated pitch with gender in that way.
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram))
And part of that is to do with my very sophisticated parents, who were psychologists and very supportive parents. I've never worried about being gay in opera or trying to hide it or anything like that
((COURTESY: PENA TIRANNA / UMG/ PixPicts + YouTube logo))
and figured that if people had a problem with it, I just wouldn't get hired there.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: (music only - Vivi, tiranno, io t'ho scampato / UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
When I first did Akhnaten, this opera by Philip Glass at the
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
Metropolitan Opera and the director asked me to be naked, I thought, “Okay, I better get in good shape because if anyone asks you to be naked in front of four thousand people a night, you'd want to be in the best shape you could.” And I enjoy it. I enjoy the mental release. It's a place where I can think. The audience was captivated and it became more of a ritual. And the ritualistic aspect of it actually is very intimate.
((COURTESY: English National Opera/ Richard Hubert Smith))
And it's another way to kind
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
of connect the audience, to draw them in, to make them see your
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
vulnerability, and then to take them on a journey with you from that place. The director asked
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram) ))
me to shave my head and then we wanted to
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
do what they authentically did in ancient Egypt.
((COURTESY: arcostanzo (Instagram) ))
So, because I was naked, we waxed my entire body, which is what they did. They valued hairlessness.
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
They shaved their heads. The hairlessness was sort of godliness.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
((COURTESY CONT'D: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
And it does transform you.
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME / Metropolitan Opera + YouTube logo))
And, you know, when I would go to the grocery store bald, then with no hair on my arms,
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
I'd feel like an alien. But when I stepped
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera + YouTube logo))
onto the stage as Akhnaten, I felt like I was him. It's very common in France for
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" / SME /English National Opera + YouTube logo))
people to be naked on stage, for example. In America, it's much more controversial. This was the first time at the Metropolitan Opera
((COURTESY: "Akhnaten" /SME / LA Opera - YouTube logo))
a man had appeared fully naked.
((NATS))
((COURTESY: music only: The Encounter/ UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
What I love about performing is that it expresses the human being you are. ((END COURTESY))
I think for most people, it's not how well it's executed technically. It's how meaningful it is.
((NATS SINGING))
((COURTESY: "Liquid Days" / Sony Masterworks / National Sawdust + Vimeo))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
When I was in graduate school, I found out that I had thyroid cancer by chance, and you can see this little
((MUSIC COURTESY: "Liquid Days" / Sony Masterworks / National Sawdust))
scar still from where they took out my thyroid. And the thing about the thyroid is that it sits on top of all your vocal nerves. So, it put into jeopardy, would I still be able to sing afterwards or not? And my doctor, I was worried so much with him about, “Well, what if you cut this? Will I be able to do that?” And at some point, he said, “You know, we don't have to take it out, but if we don't, eventually you'll die.” So, it became a question of, “Am I defined only by my ability to make sound, or am I also defined by my ability to have an impact?” And now, I'm able to sing the way that I am. So, but yeah, I can't say I look back at having cancer and the whole experience as negative. In fact, I look at it as such a positive, affirming experience.
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I am really ambitious and I'm driven and I'm focused. So, I never have a good time because I'm anxious to make things. I've been disciplined about not having alcohol and about sleeping eight hours a night. It's always a
((COURTESY: “How All Living Things Breathe”/ UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube logo))
time to reinvent opera, I think. It's not just the moment we're in or that it's dying or…Opera, in its heyday, you know, was often responding to the culture and the community that it was in. And now we treat it with such white gloves, you know, as if it's something special.
((MUSIC COURTESY: “How All Living Things Breathe”/UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO))
Over the pandemic, I worked with the New York Philharmonic to create this initiative bandwagon and I have this idea to have a pickup truck that went all throughout New York and to present these concerts, completely spontaneous pop-up concerts. And that would mean that it's not audiences who bought tickets who knew the New York Philharmonic, but rather just people we encountered on the street. And
((End Courtesy))
the joy that music was able to bring them, especially in this time of silence of the pandemic, was very, very powerful.
((COURTESY: Pena Tiranna / UMG / ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube))
When I created Glass Handle, which was this project where I combined Philip Glass's music with Handel's music,
((NATS))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
I knew that in order for it to have a wider reach, I wanted to work with artists like Tilda Swinton, Mickalene Thomas, painters and filmmakers, who were not as well versed in opera, but could respond as artists to that sound world and make something wild, pop art,
((COURTESY: Rompo i Lacci /UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + YouTube logo))
you know, exploration of the music, whether it be Tilda Swinton’s dogs looking like they were experiencing the joy of Handel on the beach, or whether it was a storytelling
((COURTESY: Stille amare/ UMG/ ARCostanzoVEVO + logo YouTube))
narrative like that video of James Ivory's, where I appear as a knight. So, you know, it was a digital and contemporary way to interpret the music through the eyes of artists who were respected by other audiences. ((END COURTESY))
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
If you’ve never experienced opera, I would say, don't worry if you don't understand the language. Expect to be bored for at least 15 minutes, and
((NATS))
((COURTESY: "Liquid Days"/Sony Masterworks / Apost Films + YouTube logo))
know that after 15 minutes, you might find it less boring.
And the other thing I'd say is, remember that it's a tightrope act.
((Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor))
You know, it's very difficult to sing opera. And so, once you tap into how physically demanding it is, it's kind of like watching the Olympics. And actually, everything you need to know is right in front of you. And the story plays out on the stage. The music speaks for itself. So, you might not like every opera you go to, but it's definitely worth going because some will change your life.
((NATS))
