American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo has brought a sense of novelty and experimentation to the countertenor voice, performing contemporary as well as Baroque repertory. He has also been active as a producer and educator.

Costanzo was born on May 8, 1982, in Durham, North Carolina, but grew up mostly in New York. He began performing in musicals at age 11, and early in his career, he performed in opera, in Broadway shows, and on popular song recordings as a backup vocalist (including for Michael Jackson). Unusually, his path to the adult countertenor voice led through pop falsetto singing as well as operatic training, and he never had to make the transition from a full-throated tenor voice to countertenor singing. Costanzo attended Princeton University, graduating with a music major in 2004 and moving on for a master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music. His distinctive voice along with several major awards -- first place at the Opera Index Vocal Competition in 2008, a Grand Finals win at the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions the following year, and the top prize at Plácido Domingo's Operalia in 2012 -- helped him land major operatic roles quickly, in the U.S. and increasingly often abroad.

Costanzo has appeared at most of the prominent U.S. opera houses, making appearances in multiple roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has also performed at the Finnish National Opera, the Glimmerglass Opera, and the Teatro Real Madrid, among others. He has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Symphony in concert performances of Ligeti's Le grand macabre. Costanzo has expanded the countertenor repertory forward and backward in time, frequently performing new compositions for countertenor and touring with early music specialist Jordi Savall. He is especially noted for collaborations with everyone from film director James Ivory (in a pasticcio, or compilation opera, about countertenors) to the fashion house Visionaire (on an art and music installation) and with kabuki and Noh performers from Japan. Costanzo made his recording debut in 2018 with an album of music by Handel and Glass on the Decca Gold label. He performed the title role in the Glass opera Akhnaten with companies in Britain and the U.S., including, in 2019, the Metropolitan Opera, and his performance there was recorded and released on Glass' Orange Mountain Music label in 2021. ~ James Manheim, Rovi