07:40
The Countertenor
Anna Nelson
Vladimir Badikov, Maxim Avloshenko
Natalia Latukhina
Dmitry Vershinin
Philip Alexiou
New York, New York
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.
I'm Anthony Roth Costanzo and I'm a countertenor, opera singer, producer, here in New York City.
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.
And I never thought about needing to feel masculine by being low. In fact, I never associated pitch with gender in that way.
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
and figured that if people had a problem with it, I just wouldn't get hired there.
When I first did , this opera by Philip Glass at the
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.
And it's another way to kind
of connect the audience, to draw them in, to make them see your
vulnerability, and then to take them on a journey with you from that place. The director asked
me to shave my head and then we wanted to
do what they authentically did in ancient Egypt.
So, because I was naked, we waxed my entire body, which is what they did. They valued hairlessness.
They shaved their heads. The hairlessness was sort of godliness.
And it does transform you.
And, you know, when I would go to the grocery store bald, then with no hair on my arms,
I'd feel like an alien. But when I stepped
onto the stage as , I felt like I was him. It's very common in France for
people to be naked on stage, for example. In America, it's much more controversial. This was the first time at the Metropolitan Opera
a man had appeared fully naked.
What I love about performing is that it expresses the human being you are.
I think for most people, it's not how well it's executed technically. It's how meaningful it is.
When I was in graduate school, I found out that I had thyroid cancer by chance, and you can see this little
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.
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