Metropolitan Opera star, Grammy award-winner, and Princeton University alum Anthony Roth Costanzo headlines the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s (PSO) Jan. 13-14 concerts.
The countertenor will perform George Frideric Handel’s aria “Quella fiamma” from “Arminio” and fellow alum Gregory Spears’ “Love Story,” with words by 22nd U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.
Also on the program is Nina Shekhar’s “Lumina”; the composer is currently pursuing a doctorate in composition at the University and recently completed her 2021-23 tenure as Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists.
Under the baton of Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Orchestra will perform these works and Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36.”
Costanzo began performing professionally at age 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He was 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, and in the spring will be a distinguished visiting scholar at Harvard.
This season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera after starring in “Akhnaten,” in another title role in Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice,” the Santa Fe Opera for a world premiere, and to the Teatro Real; makes his Paris Opera debut, gives solo recitals at the Kennedy Center and Boston’s Jordan Hall, makes his debut at Wigmore Hall in London, and appears in Carnegie Hall with the Met Chamber Orchestra. As a producer, he has created projects for Opera Philadelphia, The New York Philharmonic, The BBC Proms, WQXR, and St. Ann’s Warehouse among others.
Prior to the concert weekend, Spears and Shekhar will converse about their creative process and the state of modern orchestral music with Princeton University Music Department Chair Dan Trueman, at the PSO Soundtracks Talk “Meet the Composers,” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10, at Princeton Public Library’s Community Room. It is free and open to the public.
Other guest artists appearing with the PSO in 2024 include: Time For Three, March 9-10; and Sara Davis Buechner, May 11-12. The PSO’s 2024 Princeton Festival at Morven Museum & Garden will take place June 7-22.
Tickets for all Princeton Symphony Orchestra orchestral concerts range from $30-112; youth 5-17 half-price. For concert tickets and information about the Princeton Festival, visit princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.
