Anthony Roth Costanzo joined Opera Philadelphia as General Director & President on June 1, 2024.

A GRAMMY-winning countertenor and creative producer who ”exists to transform opera” (The New York Times), Costanzo will shape the future of Opera Philadelphia, overseeing fundraising and business strategies, audience development, community initiatives, and artistic planning.

He also continues his singing career, which has taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, the New York Philharmonic, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Costanzo has also thrived as a producer and curator, creating and producing the New York Philharmonic’s celebrated Bandwagon initiative during the Covid-19 pandemic, deepening community relationships through pop-up neighborhood concerts. He premiered the operatic art installation Glass Handel at Opera Philadelphia’s second Festival O in 2018. The large-scale performance attracted stars from visual art, film, fashion, and dance, sold out three performances at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, and went on to sold-out runs in New York and London. He most recently performed with Opera Philadelphia in 2022, leading the fundraising concert Only an Octave Apart with Justin Vivian Bond, based on their studio album of the same name.

Costanzo has also created and produced shows for The BBC Proms, St. Ann’s Warehouse, National Sawdust, Philharmonia Baroque, St. John The Divine, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, Master Voices and Kabuki-Za Tokyo. To continue and expand these pursuits, he has received major support from the Mellon Foundation. He is a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company. In film, he played Francis in the Merchant Ivory feature, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and sings in the recent feature film She Came to Me with Anne Hathaway. He also operatically launched the purple M&M in a national commercial.

Recently awarded a GRAMMY, an honorary doctorate from Manhattan School of Music, a visiting fellowship from Oxford University, and the History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society, Costanzo is a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard, a recipient of the 2020 Beverly Sills Award from the Metropolitan Opera, a winner of the 2020 Opera News Award, and Musical America’s 2019 Vocalist of the Year. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University, where he has returned to teach, and received his Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he now serves on the board of Trustees. He is also on the board of National Black Theatre.

Learn more at anthonyrothcostanzo.com