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• n  a male singer who was castrated before puberty and retains a soprano or alto voice

• 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 .
• 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.

News & Articles

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• 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

Quotes

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• 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."