Now, it may not be immediately obvious why anyone would want to understand a series that features a stool specimen wearing a sailor hat and speaking with the voice of a castrato .
Contributing to its unreal aura is the fact that the role of Orfeo was written for a castrato voice, which to 18th century ears sounded godlike in its sexless purity and power.
This was no castrato, but a grown, yearning heterosexual male whose impossibly high voice set him apart, in tone and content, from the baritone norm, and made him perfect for .
Philippe Jaroussky And The Impossibly High Male Voice The French opera singer takes on the repertoire of a famous 18th-century castrato. Jaroussky cuts a masculine figure on the cover of his new album, but you might do a double take upon hearing it.
March 2, 2014 - NPR
Brian Asawa in Seattle Post Intelligencer He was invited to perform in Portugal,Asawa says, "but beforehand, the producers insisted on checking to make sure he was intact. They didn't want a castrato on their stage."