As the Associated Press observes, Stephen Costello is “a prodigiously gifted singer whose voice makes an immediate impact.” The Philadelphia-born tenor quickly established a reputation as a “first-class talent” (Opera News) after coming to national attention in 2007. When, aged 26, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut on the company’s season-opening night.
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Stephen Costello American tenor born 1981
Two years later Stephen Costello won the prestigious Richard Tucker Award, and he has since appeared at many of the world’s most important opera houses. And music festivals, including London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Deutsche Oper Berlin; Vienna State Opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; Washington National Opera. Salzburg Festival. In 2010 he created the role of Greenhorn (Ishmael) in Dallas Opera’s celebrated world-premiere production of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick. Prompting Opera magazine to hail him as “a tenor of ineffable sensitivity” and “unfailing elegance in singing.”
2015 – 16 season
Stephen Costello launches his 2015-16 season with two fall productions at the Met. Making his company role debut as the Duke of Mantua in Michael Mayer’s Vegas setting of Verdi’s Rigoletto. Reprising the role of Lord Percy in a revival of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena. His other season highlights include several notable firsts: besides making house role debuts as Verdi’s Duke at Madrid’s Teatro Real. Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon at Dallas Opera. Edgardo in a new production of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House. Tenor makes his Santa Fe Opera debut in the title role of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette. Joins the Boston Philharmonic for his first Verdi Requiem. He also looks forward to revisiting the role of Nemorino in a new staging of Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at Vienna State Opera. And to giving a solo recital in New York.
La Traviata
Last season, Stephen Costello reprised his starring role in La traviata opposite Marina Rebeka’s Violetta, both at the Vienna State Opera and at the Met, where he also joined Susan Graham for Susan Stroman’s new take on Lehár’s The Merry Widow under the leadership of Fabio Luisi. Other operatic highlights included a title role engagement in Roméo et Juliette at Austin Lyric Opera and headlining “BrAVA Philadelphia!” – the Academy of Vocal Arts’ 80th Anniversary Gala Concert – at the Kimmel Center.
Debut in 2005
Stephen Costello made his professional debut in 2005 with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. The following year brought his European debut, as Nemorino with Opéra National de Bordeaux. His first appearances at the Dallas Opera and Fort Worth Opera, as Puccini’s Rodolfo. Noteworthy subsequent debuts have included Salzburg Festival, as Cassio in Otello. Covent Garden, as Carlo in Linda di Chamounix. Lyric Opera of Chicago, as Camille in The Merry Widow. San Diego Opera and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, both in the title role of Roméo et Juliette. Glyndebourne Festival, as Nemorino; and Vienna State Opera and Berlin State Opera, both as Rodolfo in La bohème. At San Diego Opera, Costello made role debuts as the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier. The title role of Faust, besides opening the company’s 2012-13 season with his first appearances as Tonio in Donizetti’s La fille du regiment.
Dallas Opera
At the Dallas Opera, Stephen Costello played the tenor lead in each of Donizetti’s three Tudor operas, before reprising Lord Percy opposite Anna Netrebko for his second opening-night performance at the Met, in the company’s premiere presentation of Anna Bolena. He and Netrebko appeared on PBS’s Charlie Rose to discuss the new production, which was transmitted worldwide in the Met’s Live in HD series. For his Los Angeles Opera debut, Costello portrayed Rodolfo in La bohème; for his first appearances at Washington National Opera, he resumed the role of Greenhorn in Heggie/Scheer’s Moby-Dick; and for his Houston Grand Opera debut, he scored glowing reviews as the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto.
In spring 2014, he undertook the male lead in La traviata, both for the historic first live webcast of a complete opera from London’s Royal Opera House, and in a San Francisco Opera production that was simulcast to thousands in AT&T Park, home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants.
Salzburg Festival
Costello’s performance as Cassio in Verdi’s Otello, under Riccardo Muti’s leadership at the Salzburg Festival, was released on DVD in 2010 (Major/Naxos), and his Covent Garden debut in Linda di Chamounix was issued on CD a year later (Opera Rara). His star turn in San Francisco Opera’s Moby-Dick, televised nationwide on PBS’s Great Performances, was released on DVD in 2013 (SFO) and named an “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone.
Similarly, his appearance alongside Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, and other operatic luminaries in 2013’s centennial Richard Tucker Gala was broadcast on PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center and subsequently issued on DVD. The same year saw the release of here/after: songs of lost voices (Pentatone), featuring the tenor’s world premiere recording of Jake Heggie’s Friendly Persuasions: Homage to Poulenc.
Richard Tucker Award
Besides winning the 2009 Richard Tucker Award, Stephen Costello has previously received other grants from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, as well as taking First Prize in the 2006 George London Foundation Awards Competition, First Prize and Audience Prize in the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, and First Prize in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition. A native of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of the city’s famed Academy of Vocal Arts.
Metropolitan Opera
[Met Performance] CID:352065  New Production Lucia di Lammermoor {558} Metropolitan Opera House; 09/24/2007 Opening Night {123} Peter Gelb, General Manager Debut: Stephen Costello, Mary Zimmerman, Daniel Ostling, Mara Blumenfeld, T. J. Gerckens, Daniel Pelzig Broadcast/Streamed/Times Squarecast/Plazacast Review |
| [Met Performance] CID:352069 Lucia di Lammermoor {559} Metropolitan Opera House; 09/27/2007 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:352075 Lucia di Lammermoor {560} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/01/2007 |
| [Met Performance] CID:352086 Lucia di Lammermoor {561} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/05/2007 Debut: Stephen Gaertner |
| [Met Performance] CID:352096 Lucia di Lammermoor {562} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/09/2007 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:352106 Lucia di Lammermoor {563} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/13/2007 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:352115 Lucia di Lammermoor {564} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/17/2007 |
| [Met Performance] CID:352121 Lucia di Lammermoor {565} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/20/2007 |
[Met Performance] CID:352132  Lucia di Lammermoor {566} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/25/2007 Debut: Todd Wilander Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:352401 Lucia di Lammermoor {567} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/05/2008 |
| [Met Performance] CID:352406 Lucia di Lammermoor {568} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/08/2008 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:352418 Lucia di Lammermoor {569} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/13/2008 Broadcast |
[Met Performance] CID:354049  Metropolitan Opera Premiere Anna Bolena {1} Metropolitan Opera House; 09/26/2011 Opening Night {127} Peter Gelb, General Manager Debuts: Robert Jones, Jenny Tiramani Broadcast/Streamed/Times Squarecast/Plazacast Review |
| [Met Performance] CID:354054 Anna Bolena {2} Metropolitan Opera House; 09/30/2011 |
| [Met Performance] CID:354057 Anna Bolena {3} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/03/2011 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:354069 Anna Bolena {4} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/06/2011 |
| [Met Performance] CID:354077 Anna Bolena {5} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/10/2011 Broadcast |
[Met Performance] CID:354087  Anna Bolena {6} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/15/2011 HD Simulcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:354096 Anna Bolena {7} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/18/2011 Debut: Taylor Stayton |
[Met Performance] CID:354104  Anna Bolena {8} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/21/2011 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:354107 Anna Bolena {9} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/24/2011 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:354118 Anna Bolena {10} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/28/2011 |
| [Met Performance] CID:354332 Anna Bolena {11} Metropolitan Opera House; 02/01/2012 |
| [Met Performance] CID:354337 Anna Bolena {12} Metropolitan Opera House; 02/04/2012 Broadcast |
| [Met Concert/Gala] CID:355015 The Met’s Summer Recital Series New York, Manhattan, Central Park; 07/16/2013 |
| [Met Concert/Gala] CID:355016 The Met’s Summer Recital Series New York, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge Park; 07/19/2013 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355690 La Traviata {986} Metropolitan Opera House; 12/16/2014 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355699 La Traviata {987} Metropolitan Opera House; 12/19/2014 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355702 La Traviata {988} Metropolitan Opera House; 12/22/2014 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355712 La Traviata {989} Metropolitan Opera House; 12/27/2014 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:355955 The Merry Widow {37} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/24/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355952 The Merry Widow {38} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/27/2015 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:355966 The Merry Widow {39} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/30/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:355983 The Merry Widow {40} Metropolitan Opera House; 05/07/2015 Broadcast/Streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:356014 Anna Bolena {13} Metropolitan Opera House; 09/26/2015 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:356034 Anna Bolena {15} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/05/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356069 Rigoletto {864} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/20/2015 Debuts: Katarina Leoson, Richard Troxell Broadcast/Streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:356077 Rigoletto {865} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/23/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356090 Rigoletto {866} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/28/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356095 Rigoletto {867} Metropolitan Opera House; 10/31/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356103 Rigoletto {868} Metropolitan Opera House; 11/04/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356110 Rigoletto {869} Metropolitan Opera House; 11/07/2015 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356113 Rigoletto {870} Metropolitan Opera House; 11/10/2015 Broadcast/streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:356231 Anna Bolena {18} Metropolitan Opera House; 01/05/2016 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356244 Anna Bolena {19} Metropolitan Opera House; 01/09/2016 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:356600 Rigoletto {879} Metropolitan Opera House; 01/20/2017 Debuts: Pier Giorgio Morandi, Andrea Mastroni, Nelson Martínez |
| [Met Performance] CID:356609 Rigoletto {880} Metropolitan Opera House; 01/26/2017 Broadcast/Streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:356614 Rigoletto {881} Metropolitan Opera House; 01/30/2017 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356619 Rigoletto {882} Metropolitan Opera House; 02/04/2017 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:356648 Roméo et Juliette {339} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/03/2017 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356653 Roméo et Juliette {340} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/08/2017 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356657 Roméo et Juliette {341} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/11/2017 |
| [Met Performance] CID:356660 Roméo et Juliette {342} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/15/2017 Broadcast |
| [Met Performance] CID:356664 Roméo et Juliette {343} Metropolitan Opera House; 03/18/2017 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357095 La Traviata {1018} Metropolitan Opera House; 12/26/2018 Broadcast/Streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:357202 La Traviata {1020} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/05/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357206 La Traviata {1021} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/10/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357209 La Traviata {1022} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/13/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357213 La Traviata {1023} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/17/2019 Broadcast/Streamed |
| [Met Performance] CID:357216 La Traviata {1024} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/20/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357217 La Traviata {1025} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/24/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357220 La Traviata {1026} Metropolitan Opera House; 04/27/2019 |
| [Met Performance] CID:357233 Rigoletto {898} Metropolitan Opera House; 05/10/2019 |
| [Met Concert/Gala] CID:357449 At Home Gala Streaming live from around the world; 4/25/2020 |
read more
- Wikipedia
- Operabase
- Tenorer i världen
- Stephen Costello web-site
- Askonas Holt Artist Management
- Interwieuv with Stephen Costello at San Diego Opera
