Countertenor

A lively and revelatory exploration of the history of the countertenor by Anthony Roth Costanzo, the Grammy Award-winning star of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten and “one of opera’s biggest stars” (The New York Times).

The sound of a countertenor, often described as ethereal and otherworldly, is both familiar and foreign—it is a high voice type, somewhere between what we might expect of a male and a female opera singer. Though we recognize the countertenor range from countless pop stars, experiencing it within the context of opera, powerful and penetrating, and, most important, without any amplification, is unsettling, beautiful, and profoundly moving.

Countertenors today sing music written originally for castrati. Part oddity, part divinity, castrati are inextricably linked to the proliferation of opera from its inception in the seventeenth century through its expansion into the public sphere. The striking beauty of the male voice and the otherness of the sound make it fertile ground for creative invention and innovation, and evoke fascinating aspects of gender, sexuality, and identity.

In Countertenor, Anthony Roth Costanzo, one of the world’s leading opera singers—known in particular for his performance as Akhnaten in Philip Glass’s opera of the same name—takes us through both his life and the history of his rare and remarkable voice. With wit and humor, Costanzo explores fascinating contradictions contained within the countertenor and narrates his own musical education and interests. The result is a lively and stirring account of an art form in flux, a story of reinvention and a life lived in harmony with art.