Constantine Costi is a director, writer working across opera, film, and theatre.
Constantine’s recent projects include co-librettist and director for original new opera SIEGFRIED AND ROY: THE UNAUTHORISED OPERA, HÄNSEL & GRETEL, and INTO THE WOODS double bill for State Opera of South Australia and a reimagining of LA BOHÈME for Opera Australia.
Constantine’s documentary feature following the World Porridge Making Championship THE GOLDEN SPURTLE premiered to sold out screenings at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX Documentary Film Festival. THE GOLDEN SPURTLE received Best Documentary nominations at Stockholm Film festival, Zurich Film Festival, and Sydney Film Festival and has been screened at Telluride Film Festival, EnergaCamerimage, and Palm Springs International Film Festival amongst others.
Constantine’s acclaimed opera film A DELICATE FIRE for Pinchgut Opera, based on the madrigals of Barbara Strozzi, was awarded Best Australian Feature Film at the Sydney Women’s Film Festival, and the ATOM Award’s Best Experimental Film.
For the Victorian Opera, Constantine revamped the libretto and directed Shostakovich’s operetta MOSCOW CHEREMUSHKI as MELBOURNE CHEREMUSHKI which earned him a Best Direction Green Room Award. He also re-imagined Mozart’s DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL titled ABDUCTION in 2025.
Previous highlights included a staging of Schoenberg’s PIERROT LUNAIRE (Berliner Philharmonic), Puccini’s IL TABARRO (Opera Australia), William Bolcom’s LONG-LOST LOVES (Musica Viva), IL TABARRO set outdoor aboard a historic light-ship (Sydney Festival / Victorian Opera), Monteverdi/Kats-Chernin’s IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA (Brisbane Conservatorium) and Offenbach’s ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS (NIDA/Sydney Conservatorium).
Constantine’s work explores the possibilities of the operatic form from outdoor spectacles LA TRAVIATA ON SYDNEY HARBOUR (Opera Australia), an immersive baroque opera experience for young audiences INFERNO (The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra), and a “physics-defying spectacle” of Weill’s MAHAGAONNY SONGSPIEL AND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS which included a 15-piece orchestra in a pub-theatre for 60 audience members.
Constantine directed KARAKORUM (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra) 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. He has assisted/revived the work of directors including Harry Kupfer, William Kentridge, Sir David McVicar, Damiano Michieletto, Chen Shi-Zheng, Barbara Weber, John Bell, Elijah Moshinsky, and Olivier Py.
He was co-Artistic Director of Red Line Productions at the Old Fitz Theatre 2020 – 2023 and Artistic Director Advisor for The Lysicrates Foundation. Constantine is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Directing and holds a Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts and Production) from the University of Technology, Sydney.