“On stage or screen, his work is distinguished by its bold visual impact, its radical re-envisioning of established classics and its emotional energy.”
Kate Holden writing for The Saturday Paper’s ‘The Influence’’
Constantine Costi is a Greek Cypriot / Australian director, writer, Co-Artistic Director of Red Line Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre and Artistic Director Advisor for The Lysicrates Foundation.
After completing his studies as a film director he quickly moved into the world of opera.
He was named one of the country’s 21 hottest creatives of 2021 by The Australian Newspaper.
His acclaimed opera film A Delicate Fire for Pinchgut Opera based on the madrigals of Barbara Strozzi, has been awarded Best Australian Feature Film at the Sydney Women’s Film Festival , and the ATOM Award’s Best Experimental Film.
Highlights for 2022 include Cesti’s Orontea for Pinchgut Opera, a Kurt Weill Double Bill for The Old Fitz Theatre; Mahagonny Songspiel and The Seven Deadly Sins, and Il Mago di Oz by Pierangelo Valtinoni for Victorian Opera.
2021 saw Constantine direct La Traviata on Sydney Harbour for Opera Australia on one of the world’s largest outdoor stages.
He wrote the libretto of a new Australian opera Cassandra for Victorian Opera by composer Simon Bruckard, directed Monochromatic; a series of piano portraits for Phoenix Central Park, and directed an online Don Giovanni for the Shanghai Opera with Maestro Xu Zhong.
For the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Constantine directed Karakorum starring David Wenham, the award-winning production of Bittersweet Obsessions, and Messiah which played to standing ovations and sell-out seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Constantine won The Berlin New Music Opera Award with The Opera Foundation for Young Australians where he worked with Komische Oper Berlin’s directing team on the premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin directed by Barrie Kosky.
In 2017, Constantine directed Puccini’s Suor Angelica for Opera Projects Sydney; co-wrote the immersive theatre experience Visiting Hours for Sydney’s Vivid Festival (which had a sold-out return season in 2018); directed Puccini’s Il Tabarro at Alfie’s Sydney; and directed The Space between the Fuel and the Fire for NIDA.
Constantine is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Directing and holds a Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts and Production) from the University of Technology, Sydney.