Listening Room: Anthony Roth Costanzo

Cécile McLorin Salvant

I think Cecile is one of, if not the greatest vocalist of our time. I appreciate, as an opera singer, listening to all the colors she uses, all the resonance… and then her imagination laid out, not only in how she sings, but in the freedom and abandon that she has.

In the title track of her latest album Oh Snap she uses this vocal fry ‘phrase’ and loops it, and that becomes the basis of the second half of the song, morphing into a dance beat. She has her finger on a kind of zeitgeist that really speaks to me, and she is an incredible artist across a lot of different disciplines.

She also sings about things that feel incredibly relevant, like in the song Expanse. She says, “Some of us have been dreaming of expanse.” For me, it’s both how we expand our minds and how we expand our time, because everyone in this moment in the world seems to have no time. I’m old enough to remember slightly before the internet when it did feel like we had more time, which makes no sense. So how do we cultivate that idea of expanse as a human being, as a person with ambition? I think that song really captures that in a wry way.

Justin Vivian Bond

I always love, obsess over, and revere Justin Vivian Bond. Vivian is on a real tear, which is exciting to witness. Going back and listening to some of her early albums or listening to her Marianne Faithfull concert at St Ann’s Warehouse, is very inspiring.

I think she has an unbridled power that captures the spirit of, as she says, “glamorous resistance”, which is what we need now and always. I’m very inspired by her approach to things.

Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman made a disco album that is kind of remarkable. It’s like disco hits of all her Broadway show tunes and some other ditties. There’s a track called Something For The Boys that feels like she was tapping into her gay fan base, whether she knew it or not. I’m sure she did.

Opera Philadelphia

We’re doing a project at Opera Philadelphia with 10 composers all writing one opera [Complications in Sue] with a libretto by Michael R. Jackson. I’ve been listening to the music of the composers that we commissioned, and it’s really incredible. Whether it’s the music of

Nathalie Joachim, who is our composer-in-residence, or Andy Akiho or Rene Orth – there’s just some amazing artists involved that I’ve been really enjoying listening to and getting into every single one of them.

Nathalie Joachim’s Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti) album is really beautiful. She just did a concert of excerpts of it for Opera Philadelphia’s series at the Wanamaker, which was thrilling.

“Because Opera Philadelphia took over the Wanamaker space, with the largest fully functional organ in the world, I sort of went on a trip with organ music. I found some really wild and wonderful stuff.’’

Wendy Carlos/Jeanne Demessieux

Because Opera Philadelphia took over the Wanamaker space, with the largest fully functional organ in the world, I sort of went on a trip with organ music. I found some really wild and wonderful stuff.

There’s an organist named Wendy Carlos. Wendy has albums like Switched on Bach, and also scored A Clockwork Orange and Tron, and was notably one of the pioneer, famous trans musicians in the ’60s and ’70s, playing all this organ music.

And then even earlier than that was this fanciful organist and composer named Jeanne Demessieux. She wrote and performed the weirdest organ music, and it is so great for being transported to another realm, whether it’s the Halloween spookies or the listless existential doom spiral. In general, it’s just bizarre and equally beautiful.

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