A Score to Settle: Rita Costanzi
After her SOLD OUT Debut at the United Solo Theatre Festival, Rita Costanzi has been invited to the Cornelia Street Cafe!
January 23, 2012
South American Premiere of "A Score to Settle"
SCAR Arts Center, Jaragua do Sul, Brazil
New Direction and Staging:
In collaboration with Hal Prince's long time Associate, Arthur Masella, Rita Costanzi premiered a new Hybrid Monologue/Concert Version of "A Score to Settle" at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival in August, 2010, receiving a huge standing ovation and much acclaim. Though not reviewed, Actor Richard Hanna pronounced it: "Sensational! Beautifully written, sensitively played and exuberantly performed." Viewers have described it as "Hilarious, Sensuous, Entertaining, Engaging, Compelling and Deeply Moving!"
Please click here to view the "A Score to Settle" flyer
Ottawa International Chamber Music
Festival: A Score to Settle
August,
2010
Photos: Bill Blackstone
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Reviews & Acclaim for Rita Costanzi
Sunday, July 11th, 2010 ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NORTHWEST
CHAMBER CONCERT ENHANCES SURROUNDINGS
by Christopher Key
Harpist Rita Costanzi led off the program with Mikhail Glinka’s Variations on a Theme of Mozart in E-flat, G.vi13. It’s undoubtedly trite to refer to harp playing as angelic or heavenly, so how about this: she’s a helluva harpist. In my admittedly limited experience of watching harpists, they have always seemed a rather laid-back bunch. Not Costanzi. She’s passionate about the music and her instrument and is not afraid to show it in her body language. She had the crowd mesmerized by the end of the first two bars and never let them go. The crowd was not inclined to let her go, either.
It’s a good thing that she came back for the second work in the program, a relatively new composition by Michael Cohen. Costanzi and the composer obviously connect on a deep level and he was in the audience to cheer her on. The harpist was joined by flutist Christina Smith, oboist Joseph Robinson and cellist Steven Thomas for Cohen’s Aria for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harp. The composition is very dramatic and I kept thinking that it could be the soundtrack for a film. Unfortunately, there are no filmmakers I am aware of who could create something remotely worthy of this exquisite piece of music. That is probably a good thing in the long run. The images it creates in our minds are incapable of being captured on film.
“HARPIST BOWLED LISTENERS OVER”
If you weren’t completely bowled over by Rita Costanzi’s playing with the Calgary Philharmonic Wednesday at Singer Hall, then you weren’t paying attention or you weren’t there.
Too bad. Hundreds were present and in rapt concentration as this spirited musician played the music of Handel and Somers. The evening’s first surprise was the sound of Costanzi’s instrument. It’s been so long since the Philharmonic showcased a guest harpist that the dynamic and timbral range she evoked was initially fascinating in itself.
But musicianship was the real key to the player’s success. She plays Handel boldly, phrasing in an individual but always tasteful manner. We’ve all heard countless performances of this work, yet I don’t recall any other imbued with such impressive warmth and animation.
Eric Dawson
Calgary Herald
Feb. 4, 1993
