Singing career
Costa's first appearance in a professionally staged opera was at the Redlands Bowl on August 30, 1957 in the part of Micaëla in Georges Bizet's Carmen with San Francisco Opera singers Margo Blum (as Carmen) and Chris Lachona (as Don Jose). It was staged and produced by opera impresario Glynn Ross. In December 1957 she won third prize in the regional division of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions with Grace Bumbry taking first place.
In February 1958 she portrayed Marie in The Bartered Bride with the Guild Opera Company in Los Angeles at the Shrine Auditorium. This production was directed by Carl Ebert who was then leading the Glyndebourne Festival (GF). Her work with him in L.A. led to a contract with the GF. She had a great success in her European debut at the GF in summer of 1958 in the title role of Il segreto di Susanna.
Immediately following her GF appearance, Costa went to New York to rehearse the role of Cunegonde in Candide with the operetta's composer, Leonard Bernstein, for an upcoming national tour of the show presented in concert format. The tour opened at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania in September 1958 with Robert Rounseville and Irra Petina repeating their parts from the original Broadway cast. Costa toured in this production to 60 American cities in late 1958. She subsequently portrayed Cunegonde in a staged version of the operetta for its first European production which toured in the British provinces before playing at the Saville Theatre in London in 1959.
In the summer of 1959 Costa appeared at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver as Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice as part of the Vancouver International Festival with Øivin Fjeldstad conducting and Kerstin Meyer as Orfeo. She gave her first performance with the San Francisco Opera (SFO) on September 4, 1959 on tour with the company at the Paramount Theatre in Portland, Oregon; portraying Musetta in La Bohème with Licia Albanese as Mimi. This was followed the next day by performances of Orff's Carmina Burana in which she was the soprano soloist. She subsequently appeared in both of these production at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, and toured in La Bohème with SFO to Los Angeles. Other opera roles she performed with SFO in 1959 included Euridice (with Blanche Thebom as Orfeo), Micaëla (with Gloria Lane as Carmen), and the Guardian of the Temple Gates in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Costa returned often to San Francisco for opera performances during the 1960s. On September 18, 1961 she created the role of Ninette in the world premiere of Norman Dello Joio's Blood Moon with the SFO. The following October 10 she portrayed Tytania in the SFO's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for that opera's United States premiere.
Other roles Costa sang with SFO included Micaëla (1960 & 1964), Musetta (1960, with Anna Moffo as Mimi; 1962), Despina in Così fan tutte (1960), Violetta in La traviata (1960 & 1963), Gilda in Rigoletto (1961, with Cornell MacNeil in the title role), Marguérite in Faust (1962), Anne Trulove in The Rake's Progress (1962), Margherita in Mefistofele (1963, with Giorgio Tozzi in the title role), Alice Ford in Falstaff (1963 & 1970), Marie in The Bartered Bride (1964), Nedda in Pagliacci (1964, with James McCracken as Canio), Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus (1965), Zerlina in Fra Diavolo (1968), and Rosina in The Barber of Seville (1969).
Costa was also active with the Cincinnati Opera (CO) during the 1960s and early 1970s. She sang Verdi's Violetta to Barry Morell's Alfredo for her first performance with Cincinnati Opera (CO) in the summer of 1960. She subsequently returned to Cincinnati in the title role of Jules Massenet's Manon (1961); as Violetta (1964, with Sherrill Milnes as Germont); as Mimi in La bohème (1966); as Gilda in Rigoletto (1969), as Adina in The Elixir of Love (1969), Desdemona in Verdi's Otello (1970), and the title role in La Périchole (1974).
Costa made her Metropolitan Opera ("the Met") debut as Violetta in La traviata on January 6, 1964. She returned to the Met as Massenet's Manon (1964-1965, with Nicolai Gedda as Des Grieux); in the title role of Samuel Barber's Vanessa (1965); Marguerite in Faust (1965, with Justino Diaz), as Alice Ford to Geraint Evans' Falstaff (1965); Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus (1967, with Roberta Peters as Adele); and in a reprisal as Violetta (1973, with Leo Goeke as Alfredo). In 1975 she toured with the Met to Japan as Musetta in La Bohème with Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo, Adriana Maliponte as Mimì, and John Reardon as Marcello. Her final appearance at the Met was on November 18, 1977 as Musetta with Renata Scotto as Mimì. She also sang the role of Musetta for a complete recording of La Bohème released by RCA Victor in 1962 with Anna Moffo, Richard Tucker, and the Rome Opera House Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Erich Leinsdorf.
Costa sang Violetta for her debuts with The Royal Opera, London (1962), the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company (1962), the Seattle Opera (1963), the San Antonio Grand Opera Festival (1963), Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre (1970), the New Orleans Opera (1971), the Dayton Opera(1972), and Knoxville Opera (1978). She was also seen at The Royal Opera in 1962 as Concepción in L'heure espagnole. She later returned to Philadelphia as Rosina in The Barber of Seville (1970). In 1963 she gave her first performance with the Pittsburgh Opera as Gounod's Marguérite to Barry Morell's Faust; a role she later repeated with the company in 1965 with Norman Treigle as Mephistopheles and Alan Wagner in his opera debut as Wagner. She also performed in Pittsburgh as Violetta (1965) and Rosina (1969).
In April 1964 Costa appeared at Carnegie Hall with the American Opera Society as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Giulietta Simionato as Romeo. She returned to Seattle Opera as Adina in The Elixir of Love (1969), Massenet's Manon (1975), and Verdi's Desdemona with Louis Roney as Otello (1977). In 1973 she portrayed Marenka in The Bartered Bride with the Opera Company of Boston under conductor Sarah Caldwell. That same year she portrayed Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow with the Opera Theater of New Jersey. She also appeared as a guest artist at the Paris Opera, and performed in operas in Portugal.
On the concert stage, Costa was a featured soloist in several concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl during the 1960s and 1970s. She gave her first performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) at the 1960 Ravinia Festival. She later sang a concert of opera excerpts with the CSO in 1970 under the baton of Henry Mazer. She gave a joint recital with Jan Peerce at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia in 1961 and 1966. She performed Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1964. In 1966 she sang the aria "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka with the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Eugene Ormandy in a concert which was filmed for television broadcast. She later sang a concert of opera arias with this orchestra at the Trenton War Memorial in 1969.
In 1968 Costa sang excerpts from The Ballad of Baby Doe, Candide, and The Telephone with the New York Philharmonic (NYP) at Philharmonic Hall. She later sang with the orchestra again for its concert of Viennese music led by conductor Andre Kostelanetz in 1973. Other orchestras she performed with during her career included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1960 & 1975), the San Antonio Symphony (1961), the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (1962, 1965, & 1975), the Tulsa Philharmonic (1962), the Nashville Symphony (1965), the Fort Worth Symphony (1965), the Louisville Orchestra (1966), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1966 & 1971), the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra (1968) the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (1973), the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra (1978), and the New Jersey Symphony (1978).
In 1963 Jacqueline Kennedy asked Costa to sing at a memorial service for her husband, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, from the Los Angeles Sports Arena. At the memorial concert, she sang the "Libera Me" from Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem under the baton of conductor Zubin Mehta. In collaboration with the United States Department of State, Costa gave concert tours of Russia in 1965 and 1970. In 1969 she appeared at the Chicago Auditorium; recreating a program sung by Adelina Patti for the inauguration of that theatre. In 1971 she sang for the inaugural concert of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. On April 10, 1973 Costa sang at the White House for the state dinner given by American president Richard Nixon for Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. In October 1977 she returned to Carnegie Hall to sing in the Richard Tucker Memorial Gala.
