EGN NEWS DESK
Anthony Roth Costanzo, the celebrated American countertenor who’s one in all opera’s greatest stars, will lead Opera Philadelphia as its subsequent common director and president, the corporate introduced on Thursday.
Costanzo, 41, whose tenure begins in June, will probably be a uncommon determine within the classical music trade: an artist in his prime who can be working as an administrator. He stated he would proceed to carry out extensively at the same time as he works to reshape Opera Philadelphia, which has struggled to get better from the disruption of the pandemic.
“I’m actually involved in how I can have probably the most impression,” Costanzo stated in an interview. “And there’s solely a lot you are able to do as a person artist.”
Stephen Okay. Klasko, the chair of Opera Philadelphia’s board of administrators, stated Costanzo rose to the highest of an inventory of 40 candidates due to his eagerness to draw new audiences and kind new partnerships as the corporate appears to be like for a sustainable enterprise mannequin.
“He’s enthusiastic, he’s constructive,” Klasko stated, “and he sees our future as being an entity that goes past opera.”
At Opera Philadelphia, Costanzo will oversee fund-raising, enterprise technique, viewers improvement, neighborhood initiatives and creative planning. Klasko stated that whereas Costanzo didn’t have conventional credentials, the board was impressed by his work as a inventive producer and impresario. Costanzo has curated festivals, for instance, on the New York Philharmonic.
“He’s actually had a reasonably numerous background,” Klasko stated. “And he’s performed a reasonably darn good job on the enterprise facet of issues.”
Costanzo will succeed David B. Devan, who introduced final yr that he would depart the corporate this spring after 13 years.
Costanzo performs repeatedly on the world’s main phases. He has additionally led an array of tasks outdoors opera, like “Only an Octave Apart,” a present with the cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond.
Costanzo will take the reins at a difficult time for Opera Philadelphia, which has lengthy had a status as a haven for revolutionary and bold work.
Since the pandemic, the corporate, based in 1975, has slashed its funds, eradicated workers positions and decreased the variety of performances. Next season, the funds is $10 million, down from $15.6 million for the 2018-19 season; there will probably be 9 performances, in contrast with 30 earlier than. Opera Philadelphia, which has by no means had a considerable endowment, is extremely depending on ticket gross sales and new donations.
Opera corporations throughout the United States are battling rising prices and lingering monetary ache from the pandemic. The Metropolitan Opera in New York has withdrawn about $70 million from its endowment over the previous two seasons to assist cowl prices.
Opera Philadelphia’s leaders have tried to get past the corporate’s woes by intensifying fund-raising efforts and forming alliances with different cultural establishments. The firm introduced final month that it will work with the Apollo Theater in Harlem to develop new operatic works by Black artists.
Costanzo stated Opera Philadelphia’s future would contain new collaborations. “We need to convey opera into the zeitgeist in numerous methods,” he stated, “whether or not or not it’s by way of trend, grass-roots engagement or different means.”
“We need to create a type of groundswell and buzz,” he added.
Costanzo, who grew up in Durham, N.C., started his relationship with Opera Philadelphia in 1996, when he was 14 and carried out as a shepherd boy in a manufacturing of Puccini’s “Tosca,” starring Luciano Pavarotti. At the tip of the opera, Costanzo recalled, Pavarotti prolonged his hand, inviting Costanzo to hitch him for a bow.
Costanzo returned to Opera Philadelphia as an grownup in 2011 for a manufacturing of Henze’s “Phaedra.” In 2018, he produced and starred within the operatic artwork set up “Glass Handel” on the firm’s Festival O in 2018, elevating almost $1 million to cowl the prices of the venture.
In Philadelphia, he stated he was desirous to program extra small-scale works and up to date music, along with conventional choices. He additionally desires to rethink the corporate’s fund-raising technique.
“I strategy every part I do with creativity,” he stated, “as a result of I started as and nonetheless am an artist.”
