About

Playing the cello and teaching music bring me great joy and artistic satisfaction, and I am energized by opportunities to share my musical perspectives with audiences far and wide. Keep reading to learn a bit more about who I am and what I do!

I’m Christopher Costanza, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to my website! For well over thirty years now I have been very fortunate to have had a varied and exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Back in 1986, when I was still an undergraduate student at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston, I won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, and a few years later, I was honored to receive a prestigious Solo Recitalists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. To date, I have played concerts in nearly every state in the U.S. (I’ve set foot in 49 of the fifty; North Dakota, I promise to pay you a visit one of these years!) and in a long list of countries and continents near and far: Canada and throughout Europe, as well as South America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. During the summers, I’ve enjoyed collaborating with colleagues at such summer festivals as Marlboro, Yellow Barn, Santa Fe, Taos, and Bravo!Vail. While at NEC in the 1980’s, I earned my Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma, studying with some of the most inspirational and brilliant musical minds of the century: Laurence Lesser, David Wells, Bernard Greenhouse, Eugene Lehner, Louis Krasner, Leonard Shure, and others. 

I do a fair bit of concert touring each season throughout the world (as a soloist, chamber musician, and with the St. Lawrence String Quartet), and I regularly pursue recording projects of various sorts. Since 2003 I have been a full-time Artist in Residence at Stanford University, where I teach teach cello and chamber music and perform a wide variety of concerts all around the University, from its concert halls to student residences and lecture halls. I’m fascinated by new and somewhat complex music, admitting that the term “new” is one I use quite loosely, covering great music ranging from complex late romantic works created over 100 years ago to works that are hot off the presses. One of the highlights of my musical life has been the continuing opportunities to work with so many of the world’s most notable composers, including John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, and Pierre Boulez, as well as several of my brilliant Stanford University composer colleagues. Back in 1986, I had the immense honor of studying Olivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” under the guidance of Messiaen himself, during his brief residency at NEC.

Recording is a rigorous but ultimately enjoyable and necessary activity for a performing artist, and I’ve had terrific opportunities over many years to make a number of chamber music and solo recordings, released on labels such as Nonesuch, EMI/Angel, and Naxos. A Grammy nomination came my way back in 2006, for a recording of chamber works for winds and strings by Mozart, and several St. Lawrence String Quartet recordings on EMI have been nominated for Juno awards. My proudest recording project to date is my 2012 recording of the Six Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach. I initially offered these recordings through a comprehensive and dedicated website, which included commentary, history, web links, and additional Bach-related resources, and I have now made the recording and commentary available for streaming on my current site. My two most recent recordings with the SLSQ feature two of the Op. 76 Haydn string quartets and the Korngold Piano Quintet (with the brilliant pianist Stephen Prutsman), on the Phenotypic label. And just a few years ago, the SLSQ recorded all six of the Op. 20 String Quartets of Haydn, available as CD’s, on-line streaming, and limited-edition vinyl LP’s.

Outside of music, I enjoy hitting a good running trail – I’ve run marathons and half marathons -  and a great hiking trail into the mountains always intrigues me. I spend a good deal of time (too much, possibly) reading about, riding, and obsessing over the passenger trains and railways of the world. I love all sorts of innovative architecture, and at home in California, I am truly passionate about cooking, focusing on ways to create dishes which take advantage of the abundance of remarkable organic local produce. 

Site Photo Credits: Debra Fong, Marco Borggreve, Christopher Costanza, Stephen Sano, Asa Mathat