Media Clips with Rita Costanzi

Andante from Violin Sonata No. 2 by J.S. Bach, transcribed by Marcel Grandjany

Click here to view Rita Costanzi performing Andante from Violin Sonata No. 2 by J.S. Bach, transcribed by Marcel Grandjany (Video credit: D. Carlton Bright)

Vers La Source Dans le Bois by Marcel Tournier

Click here to view Rita Costanzi performing Vers La Source Dans le Bois by Marcel Tournier (Video credit: D. Carlton Bright)

Michael Kurek's Serenade for Violoncello and Harp

Click here to view a performance of American composer Michael Kurek's Serenade for Violoncello and Harp in Philadelphia, Nov., 2017. Ovidiu Marinescu, cello, and Rita Costanzi, harp.

Premiered at Festival Vancouver in 2007, A Score to Settle is a musical monologue for solo harpist. From the initial spark of genius - to the grand plan to change the world - to the final reconciliation of art and life, this extraordinary theater piece with integrated harp performance is a musician's comic confrontation with mortality. Rita Costanzi, harp. Kico Gonzalez-Risso, writer. Arthur Masella, director, Filmed by: Binary Recording Studio, Bellingham, Washington, performed on January 15, 2011 Bellingham International Festival Fund Raiser, Bellingham, Washington

Click here to view selections from A Score to Settle (video)

Oregon Ballet Theatre's production of James Kudelka's Hush!
Performed to a composition for two harps by Rodney Sharman
(Featuring principal dancers Gavin Larsen and Chauncey Parsons)

Click here to view video

Music in Conversation with Harpist Rita Costanzi:
The Arts in Westchester with Host Steve Halpern
(Pleasantville Community Television)

Click here to view video

Discography for Rita Costanzi

CD: Of Fields and Forests Of Fields & Forests

The harp is one of those instruments that has universal appeal. Combine that fact with the musical artistry of RITA COSTANZI, and the results are truly heavenly. Costanzi's star shines very brightly indeed in this first solo disc for CBC Records. She presents a constellation of cultures and traditions, with appropriate favouritism to French repertoire, the harp most closely identified with the French. The disc takes its title from Canadian composer, Jean Coulthard's, Of Fields and Forests.

"... a seductive harp sampler."

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 4: 04 Vers la source dans le bois, for harp

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 8:: Sonate für Harfe (1939), Paul Hindemith

For information on how to order this CD, please contact Rita Costanzi.

CD: Pastorales de Noël Pastorales de Noël

Rita Costanzi, harpist with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, has assembled a program of music that interprets the entire Nativity Story – which is not unusual for Christmas songs. What makes this CD unusual is that Costanzi has found enough pieces to do it in purely instrumental terms.

This local label seems to be carving out a Christmas niche. The best is by superb harpist Rita Costanzi. Here she weaves a hypnotic spell with her deft combination of expected classics and rarer items.
- Robert Jordan, The Georgia Straight

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 2: Noël No. IV from Trois Noëls (Marcel Tournier)

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 8: The Coventry Carol (arr. Ian McDougall)

For information on how to order this CD, please contact Rita Costanzi.

CD: A Ceremony of Carols A Ceremony of Carols
with Elektra Women's Choir

Elektra sings three Christmas works with harpist Rita Costanzi.

Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten—surely the most famous piece ever written for choir and harp—is a series of musical gems that is exuberant, innocent, and moving. Concierto di Navidad by Paul Csonka features Spanish sensuousness and catchy Cuban rhythms. In Dancing Day, John Rutter retells the central event of Christmas simply and vividly in a tapestry of dance tunes.

Click here to listen to sound clipn Track 7: This Little Babe

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 17: Angelus ad Virginem

For information on how to order this CD, please contact Rita Costanzi.

CD: Song of the Stars Song of the Stars
For Contemplation and Healing

Song of the Stars, an album of Celtic Solo Harp music for contemplation and healing has received international acclaim and a five-star rating from CBC Radio’s Sound Advice.

Rita Costanzi's latest CD Song of the Stars was recorded in response to the increasing demand for assistance in the care of pre-palliative and palliative patients. Rita lends her immense talent and artistry to a cause that is close to her heart. This CD is not only in memory of a friend, but for all who are troubled, ill, in fear, pain or dying - and to all who accompany them.

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 1: The Gartan Mother's Lullaby

Click here to listen to sound clip Track 15 :Farewell to Music

For information on how to order this CD, please click here.