Sunday’s final, virtually sold-out Cincinnati Opera performance of the Baroque opera The Coronation of Poppea turned out to have a big surprise — and a delightful one for countertenor Daniel Moody. He took the co-leading role of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero because the originally cast singer, Anthony Roth Costanzo, was called away — to perform with a Kabuki company in Japan.
Moody, who hails from Moscow, Ohio and was a finalist in Cincinnati Opera’s first Opera Idol competition in 2009, sang and acted beautifully, the audience consensus was, and shared in the sustained applause for the cast and musicians at the conclusion. This was his first major role in a Cincinnati Opera production — as part of his Cincinnati Opera debut, he had originally been hired to sing The Coronation of Poppea roles of Val and one of the three Familiari (Friends of Seneca). He had done that for the previous performances. He was one of the cast’s three countertenors; Costanzo was another.
Moody has been having a busy opera season — he also has debuts with Les Violons du Roy, Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Great Music in a Great Space Series. He is a graduate of Maryland’s Peabody Conservatory, Yale School of Music and the Institute of Sacred Music, and has won several awards.
Meanwhile, Costanzo’s departure — which had been planned — is itself eventful. He was invited to sing operatic arias during a Kabuki play. Evans Mirageas, Cincinnati Opera’s artistic director, explained the situation in an email:
“Nine months ago, Anthony approached us with a dilemma. He had been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be the first non-Japanese opera singer to perform with a Kabuki company at the most prestigious Kabuki in Japan, Kabukiza in Tokyo. It is a show specially conceived to allow Anthony to interpolate western Baroque opera arias into an existing famous Kabuki play. It was a huge success in Kyoto a couple of seasons ago and the invitation to bring it to Tokyo was historic.
“In order to make this possible, we needed to excuse Anthony from the final performance. Luck was on our side … Recalling a tradition of the Baroque era when mutable voice categories and multiple role casting was the norm, director Zack Winokur and conductor Gary Thor Wedow made a few small alterations to allow Daniel to ‘graduate’ to Nero for the final performance. Melissa Harvey, who sings Drusilla, also played the scene for Valletto in another costume. Rebecca Ringle Kamerei, who played Arnalta, took on Daniel’s Familiari role in another costume for that scene as well. It came off like clockwork!”
For information about remaining productions in Cincinnati Opera’s season, visit cincinnatiopera.org.
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 4, 2018.