SFP: Anthony Roth Costanzo’s Recital Debut

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo (courtesy of San Francisco Performances)

My “first contact” with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo could not have been more memorable. It dates back to the fall of 2014, when he sang the role of Armindo in the San Francisco Opera production of George Frideric Handel’s HWV 27 opera Partenope. The staging was by Christopher Alden, who was not afraid to inject slapstick comedy into the veins of baroque opera. Costanzo stole the show when Alden decided that Armindo would sing a full-length aria while depicting a drunk trying to contend with getting up a staircase.

As a recitalist, Costanzo was not quite as raucous, but there were no shortage of high spirits. He was accompanied at the piano by Bryan Wagorn, who may have been a bit too heavy-handed for the opening Handel selections. These were arias from Amadigi di Gaula (HWV 11) and Arminio (HWV 36), both of which displayed an abundance of coloratura embellishments. They were a good way to seize audience attention; but the virtues of the evening had more to do with the breadth of expressiveness, rather than mere showboating.

Mind you, it was not particularly easy to keep up with the full extent of that breadth. Ultimately, I was drawn to the unexpected. This was particularly the case when Costanzo chose to conclude the first half of his program with four songs by Franz Liszt. These may have fallen short of the peak of the art song repertoire, but it was still interesting to encounter Liszt occupied with something other than excessive keyboard embellishments!

More interesting were the three selections of songs by Philip Glass. Readers may recall my writing about the Great Performances at the Met telecast of Akhnaten, whose title role was sung by Costanzo. While I was not particularly impressed with that experience, I have to confess that Costanzo’s account of those individual songs was far more engaging. He knew exactly how to wind his voice around Glass’ repetitive structures, while Glass knew how to capture just the right amount of expressiveness in just the right amount of time. On the other hand, when the program closed out with two familiar songs by George Gershwin, neither of the accounts left much of a memorable impression.

However, if the conclusion was not at its strongest, Costanzo bounced back with a delightful encore. He sang the roles of both Almaviva and Susanna in the duet “Crudel! perchè finora” at the beginning of the third act of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 492 opera The Marriage of Figaro. This is a mini-drama of conflicting schemes. Costanzo knew just how to honor the narrative while having a bit of fun with it at the same time.