Only An Octave Apart Anthony Roth Costanzo & Justin Vivian Bond

• 1 Autumn Leaves 05:43
• 2 Egyptian Sun (Walk Like An Egyptian / Hymn To The Sun Medley) 02:46
• 3 Deh Placaveti / Don’t Give Up Medley 07:38
• 4 Two Charming Fairies (One Charming Night / There Are Faeries At The Bottom Of Our Garden Medley) 03:49
• 5 Didos (Dido’s Lament / White Flag Medley) 05:42
• 6 Two Meadowlarks 01:52
• 7 Waters Of March 04:10
• 8 Über Allen Gipfeln ist Ruh 04:01
• 9 Double Rainbow (I’m Always Chasing Rainbows / Rainbow Sleeves Medley) 05:53
• 10 Stars 04:27
• 11 Me And My Shadow 05:31
• 12 Under Pressure 03:46
• Total Runtime 55:18

Info for Only An Octave Apart

Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond each sound different from what you would expect when you look at them. The juxtaposition of their voices, personalities, and repertoire subverts notions of high and low, be it in terms of pitch, cultural echelon, or degrees of camp – not to mention the difference in height. By expressing their queer identities through unique interpretations of classical music, pop music, and points of intersection between the two, the music becomes a prismatic reflection of outsiders who might otherwise be intimidated by the bulwark that the classical world can present. There is humor in the clashing of styles, pathos in the depth of expression, and a kind of galvanizing joy in the harmony of purpose. Whether invoking mythology or nature, romance or radical compassion, they carve new pathways between classical tradition and politically subversive cabaret, and allow old works to reveal surprising new stories.

“Opera may now be perceived as normative and elitist, but it has a wild lineage as both an interdisciplinary and popular, zeitgeist-driving form—not to mention one whose popularity was rooted in the sex-symbol status of castrated men. What I have always tried to do, and what I think this show can excel at, is to drop some breadcrumbs for people who are a gateway audience,” stated Costanzo in a press release.

“Cabaret is really intimate and spontaneous and dangerous because you don’t know what’s going to happen, whereas opera at its best is very calculated. There are so many people onstage that every piece of the puzzle has to fit perfectly. So in our work together, Anthony and I get to bring elements of both of those things so it loosens up the opera part a bit and recontextualizes it and, for me, it gets me into a more formalized, practiced way of performing. I think it brings out the best, and something new, in both of us,” Bond added.

Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor
Justin Vivian Bond, vocals

Anthony Roth Costanzo
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of 11 and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He is a GRAMMY nominee, 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.

This coming season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera in his acclaimed performance of the title role in Akhnaten, as well as in Rodelinda. He reopens St. Ann’s Warehouse in a staged concert, will be the New York Philharmonic artist-in-residence, and will make his debut at the Santa Fe Opera in the title role of the world premiere of John Corigliano’s The Lord of Cries. He will also appear with Madrid’s Teatro Real, Philharmonia Baroque, Stanford Live, and Boston Baroque, among others. His second album, a collaboration with Justin Vivian Bond, will be released this winter on Decca Gold. Costanzo recently created and produced the New York Philharmonic’s Bandwagon initiative, the orchestra’s innovative and ongoing response to the pandemic.

Costanzo has appeared with many of the world’s leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Dallas Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Spoleto Festival USA, Glimmerglass Festival, and Finnish National Opera. In concert he has sung with the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, NDR at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and the London Symphony Orchestra, among others.

He has performed at a wide-ranging variety of venues including Carnegie Hall, Versailles, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, Minamiza Kyoto, Joe’s Pub, The Guggenheim, The Park Avenue Armory, and Madison Square Garden.

Costanzo has begun working as a producer and curator in addition to his singing, creating shows for Opera Philadelphia, National Sawdust, Philharmonia Baroque, The Barnes Foundation, St. John The Divine, Princeton University, WQXR, The State Theater in Salzburg, Master Voices and Kabuki-Za Tokyo. In film, he played Francis in the Merchant Ivory film, A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award.

Mr. Costanzo’s many other awards include first place in the Operalia competition, a Grand Finals Winner of the 2009 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a George London Award, a career grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the first countertenor to win First Place in the Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCullom competition, where he also won the audience choice prize. He has also received a Sullivan Foundation Award, and won First Place in the Opera Index Competition, the National Opera Association Vocal Competition, and the Jensen Foundation Competition.

He graduated from Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University, where he has returned to teach, and received his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he now serves on the board of Trustees.

Justin Vivian Bond
appeared on stage (Broadway and Off-Broadway, London's West End), screen (Shortbus, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Sunset Stories, television (High Maintenance, Difficult People, The Get Down), nightclub stages (most notably a decades long residency at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater in NYC), and in concert halls worldwide (Carnegie Hall, The Sydney Opera House).

Their visual art and installations have been seen in museums and galleries in the US (Participant, Inc, The New Museum) and abroad (Vitrine, London).

Their memoir Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels (Feminist Press) won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. They are the recipient of an Obie, a Bessie, and a Tony nomination, an Ethyl Eichelberger Award, The Peter Reed Foundation Grant, The Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant for Artists, and The Art Matters Grant.

They have self-released several full length recordings: most notably Dendrophile, and Silver Wells. As one half of the legendary punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb they toured the world and released two eds: Do You Hear What We Hear? and Kiki and Herb Will Die For You at Carnegie Hall. Mx Bond has been at the forefront of Trans visibility and activism since the early 1990S.

They have a Masters Degree in Live Art from Central Saint Martins College in London and have taught performance composition and Live Art Installation at NYU and Bard College. Currently Viv divides their time between residences in New York City' East Village and the Hudson Valley. In December of 2019 they made their debut at The Vienna Staatsoper in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth's Orlando as Orlando' child.

This album contains no booklet.