美国国家公共电台 NPR Anthony Roth Costanzo: A Countertenor For The 21st Century

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Even if you're prepared for it, there's a moment of shock the first time you hear Anthony Roth Costanzo start to sing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

ANTHONY ROTH COSTANZO: (Singing) Oh, round desire...

SHAPIRO: Costanzo is a countertenor. He sings in a range more typical of women. Here he's at NPR's offices for a Tiny Desk Concert, where musicians play a few songs in front of a small audience for an online video. He's singing songs from his new album, "ARC."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Vocalizing).

SHAPIRO: Costanzo has made a career defying people's expectations of opera singers, collaborating¹ with fashion designers and visual artists, performing in untraditional settings. And this short set was no exception. He started with a song by Philip Glass and David Byrne called "Liquid Days," accompanied by harpsichord², bassoon and flute³.

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COSTANZO: (Singing) Love takes its shoes off and sits on the couch.

SHAPIRO: Between songs, he cracks jokes about the roots of the countertenor tradition. Centuries ago, male singers' high voices were preserved through surgical⁴ means.

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COSTANZO: So now we go from Philip Glass' 1980s compositions with David Byrne writing the lyrics⁵ to the bread and butter of the countertenor, the music written for castrated men, which is, you know, how...

(LAUGHTER)

COSTANZO: But I've managed to do it without the castration. And...

(CHEERING, APPLAUSE)

COSTANZO: Applause for that. Thank you - took a lot of work.

SHAPIRO: And with that, he switches to Handel.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing in Italian).

SHAPIRO: After he finished singing, I got to ask Anthony Roth Costanzo a few questions. And we've woven in some of his live performance under our chat.

You have such a rare voice. Do you think that allows you to make musical and career choices that you might not have made if you had had a more common voice?

COSTANZO: Totally. As a countertenor, I feel like I'm a freakazoid. And so everyone sort of thinks, what is that?

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Vocalizing).

And I love that. I love to use the novelty of that to recruit new audiences. But also I kind of have to forge my own path. The major opera houses may only do one thing a season that has a countertenor if even that.

SHAPIRO: You use the term freakazoid.

COSTANZO: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: Your word - with enthusiasm. And you've talked a lot about the sort of delightful⁶ shock of hearing this beautiful, feminine voice come out of a stereotypically⁷ male body. Was it a process for you to realize that that could be a wonderful shock and not just a shocking shock?

COSTANZO: You know, my parents are both psychologists. So growing up, I feel like I had the support system to not think it was weird⁸ at all. And therefore I always present it to people as if it's completely natural, and they somehow absorb it that way. That 30 seconds of shock turns into a keen interest. And so I feel like my normalizing it makes it easier to swallow.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing in Italian).

SHAPIRO: There's this very popular video that you filmed in a sixth-grade classroom, which is kids who presumably have not had a lot of experience with opera or classical music. And over the course of the video, you watch the evolution of their reaction. And I just thought as a person who has unpleasant memories of the sixth grade, putting myself in a position like that seemed terrifying.

COSTANZO: It is in a way. But I wanted them to laugh at me. I wanted them to have these emotional responses. And at the end, they're the litmus test, right? And if they can cry without knowing - I didn't tell them what the lyrics meant. I didn't give them any context. I just wanted them to connect.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing in Italian).

And one girl said to me, you know, I think what it is is that you connect to the music, and we connect to your emotion. And that's all we need.

SHAPIRO: A lot of people in opera and classical music are trying to figure out how to make this centuries-old art form relevant to a contemporary audience. Clearly those choices suffuse⁹ every artistic¹⁰ decision that you make from beginning with an aria¹¹ here at the Tiny Desk that has lyrics about love is watching television; you offer love a beer.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing) I offer love a beer. Love watches television.

SHAPIRO: If you could condense the answer to that question of how do you keep it alive and make it relevant, what's the solution?

COSTANZO: Collaboration¹². I think opera was the first interdisciplinary art form in that it incorporated set design and costume design, fashion, dance. Ballet began in opera. So in a word, my tactic¹³ has been find other artists, find different people who you can infuse with this music, and then take it out to different audiences.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing) Still is the night. It is much further than we thought.

And I feel like the emotional sweep of opera is what we need to give us some perspective on our lives, on this time we're living in, on all of that. We need that kind of catharsis.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing) Fly home, daughter. Cover your ears.

SHAPIRO: Anthony Roth Costanzo, thank you so much for joining us here.

COSTANZO: Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SHAPIRO: That's countertenor Anthony Ross Costanzo. His new album, "ARC," is out now. And you can see his full performance at npr.org/tinydesk.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

COSTANZO: (Singing) Let nothing...

1 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

2 harpsichord   

n.键琴（钢琴前身）

参考例句：

• I can tune the harpsichord as well as play it.我会弹奏大键琴，同样地，我也会给大键琴调音。
• Harpsichord music is readily playable.古钢琴音乐可以随时演奏。

3 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

4 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

5 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

6 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

7 stereotypically   

adv.带有成见地(stereotype的副词形式)

参考例句：

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 suffuse   

v.(色彩等)弥漫，染遍

参考例句：

• A dull red flush suffused Selby's face.塞尔比的脸庞泛起了淡淡的红晕。
• The evening sky was suffused with crimson.黄昏时分天空红霞灿灿。

10 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

11 aria   

n.独唱曲，咏叹调

参考例句：

• This song takes off from a famous aria.这首歌仿效一首著名的咏叹调。
• The opera was marred by an awkward aria.整部歌剧毁在咏叹调部分的不够熟练。

12 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

13 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。