Oxford offers Akhnaten star a place in Egyptology

Oxford offers Akhnaten star a place in Egyptology

News

norman lebrecht

May 13, 2022

Bloomberg reports that Oxford University has offered a fellowship in Egypt studies to the American countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo.

He has been singing the title role in Philip Glass’s opera since 2016 and the university is impressed by the seriousness of his studies in the period.

Comments

  • RW2013 says:

    Will someone who sings Einstein on the Beach be offered a physics fellowship?

    • gareth says:

      Einstein isn’t a sung part, but the violinist who plays him should definitely be considered 😉

  • chet says:

    to be followed by the Honorary Doctorate

  • Concerned opera buff says:

    Fantastic. Hope he has time to accept it. Lots of opera stars are diversifying these days and the contacts he makes could lead him in a new direction someday.

  • Couperin says:

    He’s the real McCoy!

    McCoy?? I thought his name was rootin’ tootin’!

  • Anson says:

    Good for him. He’s an incredible talent and in interviews seems very smart and devoted to his craft.

    My only problem with the otherwise mesmerizing Met Akhnaten was the director’s inaccurate reading of the text in the 3rd Act, acting as if Akhnaten rather than his successor were the king being spoken of in the texts read by the narrator role.

  • Marj says:

    Good for him. Who knows where it might lead!

  • Robert Holmén says:

    It’s good for singers to have a career to fall back on.

  • bet says:

    Quite frankly, from the article, it should be the librettists who should be recognized with the fellowship for their setting of an ancient text to music, or the producers for setting the opera in a modernist context, but looks like the Oxford professor who gave it to the opera singer instead is perhaps quite smitten by the naked opera star…

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