Circle Songs: Anthony Roth Costanzo and Friends

Grammy Award winner Anthony Roth Costanzo has appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway.

Violinist and composer Colin Jacobsen is “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene” (Washington Post). Since the early 2000’s, Jacobsen has forged an intriguing path in the cultural landscape of our time, collaborating with an astonishingly wide range of artists across diverse traditions and disciplines while constantly looking for new ways to connect with audiences.

Just 40 years old and already well-established as one of classical music’s most exciting and innovative young conductors, Eric Jacobsen combines fresh interpretations of the traditional canon with cutting-edge collaborations across musical genres. Hailed by The New York Times as “an interpretive dynamo,” Eric, as both a conductor and a cellist, has built a reputation for engaging audiences with innovative and collaborative programming.

The Knights are a collective of adventurous musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audiences and music. Driven by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and exploration, they inspire listeners with vibrant programs rooted in the classical tradition and passion for artistic discovery. The Knights evolved from late-night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen. The Jacobsen brothers together serve as artistic directors of The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen as conductor.

Recent highlights include: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera; a new piece created with Teddy Abrams for the Louisville Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Davóne Tines and National Park Guides in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky; Only an Octave Apart (“a glittering, disarming, poignant reminder of why theater exists”—W Magazine) featuring Anthony Roth Costanzo and Justin Vivian Bond with new arrangements by Nico Muhly at St. Ann’s Warehouse, the NYPhilharmonic, and Opera Philadelphia; EASTMAN, a commission from Little Island’s inaugural festival centering the work and life of composer Julius Eastman; his “rich, seamless” (The New York Times) production of The Black Clown, at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and the American Repertory Theater; his “darkly captivating” (The New York Times) production of Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, by Tyshawn Sorey and Claudia Rankine, starring Julia Bullock on the grand staircase of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and other productions at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Dutch National Opera, Stanford Live.