Anthony Roth Costanzo in Conversation
Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at age 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, and film and on Broadway. He has appeared with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies and orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Real, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, the Berlin Philharmonic, NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the London Symphony Orchestra.
This season, he produces and stars in The Seasons, a new work incorporating the music of Vivaldi and featuring a libretto by the renowned playwright and poet Sarah Ruhl, and stars in a one-man rendition of Le nozze di Figaro in the inaugural season of Little Island’s new performing arts series in New York. His most recent album, Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond: Only an Octave Apart, was released in January 2022, and his first album, ARC, was released in September 2018 and was nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He also stars in the Metropolitan Opera’s recording and DVD of Akhnaten, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. As a producer, he has created projects for Opera Philadelphia, the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Proms, WQXR, and St. Ann’s Warehouse, among others.
Costanzo was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in a Merchant Ivory film and graduated with honors from Princeton University and Manhattan School of Music, where he is now on the board of trustees, along with being on the board of National Black Theatre. Costanzo also received an honorary doctorate from Manhattan School of Music and a Makers Award from the New-York Historical Society, and he was a visiting fellow at both Harvard and Oxford universities. As of June 2024, Costanzo is the new general director and president of Opera Philadelphia.
Marc A. Scorca, OPERA America President/CEO
Marc A. Scorca joined OPERA America in 1990 as president and CEO. Since that time, the OPERA America membership has grown from 120 opera companies to 3,500 organizations and individuals. Under his leadership, OPERA America has administered two landmark funding initiatives in support of the development of North American operas and opera audiences and launched an endowment effort in 2000 to create a permanent fund dedicated to supporting new works and audience development activities. In 2005, Scorca spearheaded OPERA America’s relocation from Washington, D.C. to New York City and the subsequent construction of the National Opera Center, which opened in 2012 and serves 80,000 guests each year. The Opera Center’s recital hall was dedicated as Marc A. Scorca Hall in 2015 in honor of Scorca’s 25th anniversary with the organization.
Scorca has led strategic planning retreats for opera companies and other cultural institutions internationally, and has participated on panels for federal, state, and local funding agencies, as well as for numerous private organizations. He also appears frequently in the media on a variety of cultural issues. A strong advocate of collaboration, Scorca has led several cross-disciplinary projects, including the Performing Arts Research Coalition and the National Performing Arts Convention (2004 and 2008). He is currently a member of the U.S. delegation to UNESCO. Scorca serves as an officer on the boards of the Performing Arts Alliance and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is on the Music Advisory Board of Hunter College (CUNY). Scorca attended Amherst College, where he graduated with high honors in both history and music.
