Critical Acclaim

Tchaikovsky Concert Hall - Roméo et Juliette

The lyric voice of the young American tenor is just perfect in the middle register, where it shimmers in an incredibly beautiful range of overtone. At the height of his voice the singer always hits the right high notes and his voice went up and down, never straining.

Elene Chermenick, Infox.ru, 16 February 2010

Lyric Opera of Chicago – The Merry Widow

Stephen Costello made a charming Lyric Opera debut as Camille, a good fit for his youthful, glimmering sound and ingratiating stage presence.

Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News, March 2010

Stephen Costello sang his heart out.

Tom Williams, Talk Theatre in Chicago, 5 December 2009

Stephen Costello delivers a winning performance as the determined lover.

Deanna Isaacs, Chicago Reader, 9 December 2009

Stephen Costello as Camille was wonderful.

The Glittering Eye

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – Gianni Schicchi

…and Stephen Costello make a touching young couple as Lauretta and Rinuccio.

Financial Times

New additions are a graceful but under-used Janis Kelly as Nella and Stephen Costello, whose light but flexible tenor works well in the role of the wide-eyed young Rinuccio, showcased particularly in his glorious ode to Florence (a theme that connects most of the opera's lyric outbursts).

                 Musicalcriticism.com

And Stephen Costello's classy Rinuccio…

The Guardian

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - Linda di Chamounix

Stephen Costello (Carlo), one of the brightest rising US stars, still in his twenties, but already promising a golden future...Costello’s lovely, youthful-sounding lyric Italianate voice and ardent manner are already winning him friends and fans across the pond.

                                   The Sunday Times, 9 September 2009

Linda’s eventual betrothed Carlo was, by contrast, not only reliable but has a lyric tenor voice of great beauty: Stephen Costello will be a big star.

The Spectator, 16 September 2009

Up and coming American tenor Stephen Costello boasted charm and Italianate grace as Linda’s intended, Carlo.

The Times, September 2009

                                          

I was impressed, too, with Stephen Costello's Carlo:...he sang with such tonal lustre and style that great things seem certain for his future.

Musical Criticism, September 2009

Stephen Costello’s Carlo is terrific, his high notes soaring above the orchestra with all the passion and anguish of the vexed lover.

The Independent, 15 September 2009

As her lover Carlo, Stephen Costello was quite a find. Philadelphia trained (like Gutiérrez) he had a ringing Italianate voice, with lovely open tones and the ability to convey passion and ardour. Unlike some young tenors he was also willing to sing quietly, which is a great bonus…Costello's career will, I think, develop into singing Verdi and Puccini. His way with Donizetti was very much a twentieth century style, with the voiice sung full to the top. There were moments when I would have liked for some interpolated head voice acuti and cadenzas. But faced with such a stunning instrument, it seems churlish to complain.

Music & Vision, 9 September 2009

As her lover, Carlo, Stephen Costello revealed an elegant tenor, heady of tone and with a heroic edge for the noble’s more dramatic outbursts. He too blended well with Gutiérrez in their duets, and on this showing should be much in demand as an eloquent romantic tenor for this bel canto repertoire.

Classical Source, September 2009

American tenor Stephen Costello stole the show as the agonised, yearning hero Carlo.                                                                                         

The Guardian, 13 September 2009

Up and coming American tenor Stephen Costello boasted charm and Italianate grace as Linda’s intended, Carlo

The Times, 7 September 2009

Upcoming tenor Stephen Costello, similarly debuting, as Linda's paramour, Carlo, also provided much enjoyment. His wonderfully resonant Italianate timbre, worked particularly well in the second act show piece, 'Se tanto in ira agli uomini'.                                          

Music OMH, 7 September 2009

Opera Company of Philadelphia - Gianni Schicchi

Cast as Rinuccio, [Lauretta’s] beloved, was Stephen Costello; over the past few years Costello’s ardent lyric tenor has become ever richer and more solidly grounded.

Diana Burgwyn, Opera Now

Michigan Opera Theatre - L'elisir d'amore

But the gorgeous singing, lucid acting and palpable chemistry between Costello’s Nemorino and Ailyn Pérez’s Adina elevated the evening to a higher plane. (The singers are married in real life.) You rooted for Costello’s Nemorino, not because you were supposed to but because he made you. His opening cavatina “Quanto e bella” revealed a bright voice with a warm and charismatic core and an ear for long-breathed, Italianate phrasing. His “Furtive Tear” was an eloquently shaped expression of tenderness, with only a brief moment when you heard the labor. Otherwise, butter.

Tall and handsome, he also showed a gift for physical comedy and wordless expression, from a drunken dance medley (part soft-shoe, part Charleston) to a slumped shoulder poignancy recalling Chaplin’s Little Tramp.

 

Mark Stryker, The Detroit Free Press

 

It's hard to know which to admire more, Costello's smart, heart-tugging comic turn, something between Charlie Chaplin and a young Steve Martin, or his superb singing - and not just in Nemorino's hugely famous lament "Una furtiva lagrima." Indeed, the fame of that aria casts a regrettable shadow over the rest of a score that abounds in vocal riches, much of it in brilliant duets for Nemorino and Adina - the vivacious and vocally agile soprano Ailyn Perez.

                      Lawrence B. Johnson, The Detroit News

Dallas Opera - Roberto Devereux

In many ways, the expected star of the performance was the young American tenor Stephen Costello in the title role. Costello – Leicester in Dallas’s Maria Stuarda last season – looked, acted, and sang the demanding part of the headstrong Devereux with finesse. His golden voice encompassed power and sweetness, passion and control, along with an abundance of squillo – that strong, ringing timbre now so rare in tenors.

Willard Spiegelman, Opera News

Salzburg Festival - Otello

Along with Mikhail Petrenko's Lodovico and Stephen Costello's Cassio, Marina Poplavskaya made an especially touching Desdemona.

                                                                  Robert Turnbull, Opera Now

Fort Worth Opera – Lucia di Lammermoor

Mr. Costello is one of today's hottest young things in Italianate lyric tenors. His Edgardo has romantic good looks, virile tone and focused ardor.

Scott Cantrell, Opera and The Dallas Morning News

Tenor Stephen Costello brought dashing ardor to Edgardo. In his great aria at the finale, his voice soared effortlessly and with moving conviction.

Chris Shull, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Tenor Stephen Costello sang a passionate Edgardo, Lucia’s lover, and brought the afternoon’s first excitement as he denounced her in a raging fury in the Wedding Contract scene that galvanized everyone on stage and closed the second act in an emotional frenzy. The momentum carried into the next act, where what is usually a decorous wedding party was a falling-over-drunk Highland romp. (Costello made his operatic debut here two years ago as Rodolfo in La Boheme and went on to other engagements before arriving at the Metropolitan Opera this season, where he debuted as Edgardo in his first major role there. He isn’t even 30 years old yet.)

Leonard Eureka, The Fort Worth Weekly

Baltimore Opera – Roméo et Juliette

Stephen Costello's Romeo was a lithe and charming presence, with sturdy, eloquent vocalism to match. Impressive hints of steel and just the right amount of sob in the voice flashed through his singing at the end of the street fight scene and in the tomb-set finale. Costello always made something of the text, as well as the melodic contour of Gounod's score.

Tim Smith, Baltimore Opera

• Metropolitan Opera – Lucia Di Lammermoor

Stephen Costello was sufficiently imposing in the minor duties of Arturo to justify his imminent promotion to Edgardo.

       

Martin Bernheimer, The Financial Times

Debuting tenor Stephen Costello made a fine impression in his few lines as the hapless Arturo.

          Mike Silverman, The Associated Press

An appealing young lyric tenor, Stephen Costello, had a solid Met debut as the well-meaning Arturo.

       Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Stephen Costello made an impressive debut as Arturo, one that makes his appearance as Edgardo, scheduled for later in the season, something to anticipate.

George Loomis, Musical America

In the small role of Lucia's short-lived husband, debutant Stephen Costello leaves a warm impression with his clear, pleasing tenor.

Eric Myers, Variety

The best part for visiting Philadelphians, though, was when tenor Stephen Costello (locally born and trained) arrived for Lucia's arranged Act II marriage. In his Met debut, he looked wooden - but outside the confines of the Academy of Vocal Arts' acoustically odd theater on Spruce Street, his tenor voice unfurled as though it had found its true home. He'll switch to the leading role of Edgardo Oct. 25.

                 

David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Stephen Costello's debut as Arturo was striking indeed; the young tenor sang with perfect confidence from the outset, his voice showing real personality as it blended clarity of line with grainy richness of texture. I found myself wishing he were singing Edgardo in Giordani's place; he will do so on October 25.

Alex Ross, The New Yorker

The most secure singing came from debutant Stephen Costello in the small role of Arturo, his tone bright and hardy, with a strip of metal down the center. 

Steve Smith, Time Out New York

I can give you the musical highlights in one sentence: Stephen Costello as Arturo sang beautifully, with gleaming, compact tone and jaw-dropping confidence.

Marion Ligana Rosenberg, Vilane Fille

• Concert With Frederica Von Stade

• Costello is the rarest of birds, a slender tenor — and a very good one, with steely highs, a warm middle and rock-steady sustained notes. His stylish "Che gelida manina" from Puccini's "La Boheme" earned a rapturous reception from the audience. He opened a bit more stiffly with "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from Lehar's "The Land of Smiles," and paired nicely with von Stade in the love duet from Lehar's "The Merry Widow."

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• Mike Greenberg, San Antonio Express News

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• Dallas Opera – Maria Stuarda

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  Mr. Costello has a potent, pliant lyric tenor and lean good looks; opera companies will be beating a path to his door. And he certainly captures Leicester's ardor and, in the end, desperation.

  Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, 8 January 2007

• …and Costello, whose ardent tenor was one of the evening's main pleasures.

  Matthew Erikson, The Fort Worth Star Telegram , 7 January 2007

• Madison Opera – Rigoletto

• The primary vocal attraction was the Duke of Stephen Costello. His is a beautiful tenor, graced with an individual, masculine timbre of substantial body at mid-range, a very fast, very appealing vibrato on high, and a suggestion of an Italianate "sob" that was judiciously and expressively applied. He cuts a handsome figure onstage as well, and while further stage and life experience will likely enable this very young vocalist to augment more fully his characterization of the cynical Duke, this really is a singer to watch.

  Mark Thomas Ketterson, Opera News Online, February, 2007

• As the Duke, Costello came to Madison with a strong performance pedigree and significant advance notice, including a two-page profile in the most recent issue of "Opera News." That can often be a recipe for disappointment, but this time the attention was warranted. Costello delivered in a tenor that glistened like gold and in direct inverse proportion to the callousness of his character. His soliloquy, "Parmi veder le lagrime," at the beginning of act two earned the singer the first of several shouts of "bravo" during the evening. The famous "La donna e mobile," which opens act three, was also beautifully handled, earning enthusiastic applause.

  Michael Muckian, The Capital Times,18 November 2006

• Singling out individual singers risks undue discrimination. Still, the most exciting performer was surely Stephen Costello as the Duke of Mantua. A tenor with a voice of ringing strength matched with intelligence and dramatic flair, he is already marked for great things.

  John W. Barker,Isthmus, 18 November 2006

• Academy Of Vocal Arts – Rigoletto

• As the duke, Philadelphia tenor Stephen Costello generates true Italian tenor excitement  from an unlikely package. His guy-next-door youthfulness, applied to a character who habitually helps himself to other men's wives, comes together in appropriately disconcerting ways.

  David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Enquirer, 2 May 2006

• Northeast Philadelphia's Stephen Costello, seen and heard in the role of the callous and wicked Duke of Mantua Sunday night, is giving the most complete and compelling performance of that part I've ever encountered during 30 years of opera reviewing -- and he's only 24 years old.

  The triumph of young Costello's delineation of the Duke Sunday night was its completeness. He looked, acted and sang the part flawlessly. Costello's natural good looks became fatal beauty onstage and in character. His manner assumed a sense of power by birthright. His unaffected acting became impassioned conviction even when merely a deceptive pose. And his singing rang with a perfect balance between the pure clarity of head tones and the virile potency of chest tones, hitting and holding the part's high notes with ease and strength yet without loss of tonal cover. You could see and hear why the hapless Gilda happily decides to die for him.

  Michael Caruso, The Chestnut Hill Local, 4 May 2006

• Costello commands a plangent voice with a ringing top. He phrases the duke's music artfully and shades his tone tastefully.

  Robert Baxter, The South Jersey Courrier-Post, 23 May 2006

• Fort Worth Opera – La Bohème

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  Back in 1970, Plácido Domingo celebrated his 30th birthday here by singing Rodolfo with young Mexican soprano Gilda Cruz Romo as his Mimì — a magic pairing. The two went on to major careers, eventually singing together in a season-opening production of Verdi’s Otello for the Metropolitan Opera.

  For the Saturday performance, the second cast had something of a déjà vu quality. Young tenor Stephen Costello and soprano Christina Major brought back memories of the earlier singers.  At 24, Costello was making his operatic stage debut, and his voice, solid from top to bottom, has a radiant bloom. His musical instincts are well formed, he’s comfortable onstage, and the promise of future greatness was all over the performance. If he resists the lure of taking on bigger roles too soon and allows his voice to fill out and the top to strengthen, there may be an important career ahead of him.

• Leonard Eureka, The Fort Worth Weekly, 28 March 2006

• Academy Of Vocal Arts – Le Villi

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  Le Villi's cast was headed by two of AVA's most vocally accomplished singers, the ever-captivating Ailyn Pérez, whose effortless emotional honesty kept her well out of the cliche zone, and Stephen Costello, whose viscerally impressive tenor did all the right things stylistically, right down to the sobbing grace notes.

  David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2006

• Stephen Costello (Roberto) dominated the performance. His rich-toned, focused tenor caressed the vocal lines and opened thrillingly on the many high B flats.

  Robert Baxter, The South Jersey Courier Post, January 2006

• Most impressive was Northeast Philadelphia tenor Stephen Costello as Roberto, the young man who inherits a fortune only to lose it, his love and eventually his life at the hands of the Willies of the title. Costello possesses a ringing timbre to a voice he employs to deliver a visceral impact on his audience. He covers an admirable range of dynamics, from cries to whispers, without sacrificing either the sheer beauty of the tone or the control of his phrasing and the projection of it. In some ways, one might consider his acting style a touch over the top, but I find it hard to criticize him because it never seems insincere and it always works onstage. One feels the very emotions Costello is experiencing. And, after all, isn't that what opera singing and acting is all about?

  Michael Caruso, The Chestnut Hill Local, January 2006

• As for Costello, when he entered AVA three  years ago, he had a lovely, light lyric voice, but it since has grown into a much richer instrument, admirable retaining the lovely timbre.  Costello unabashedly – and effectively – employs the sobbing quality that used to enthrall Richard Tucker fans.

  Diana Burgwyn,Opera Now, May 2006

• Opera Orchestra Of New York – Guillaume Tell

• …with Stephen Costello giving a glimpse of his fine, soaring lyric tenor as a Fisherman in the opening scene.

  John W. Freeman, Opera News, February 2006

• The evening's singing began in style with tenor Stephen Costello's fisherman's air, ‘Accours dans ma nacelle,’ in which he was able to field his own estimable high C.

  Bruce Michael Gilbert, TheaterScene.net

• Stephen Costello was graceful as a fisherman who sings a lovely serenade in the first act (with its own pair of high Cs!).

  Robert Levine, Classics Today

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