Insane sopranists

Ah, countertenors. Where would we be without them?

When I was an undergrad, I took part in the annual Messiah sing-in, in which the Glee Club and a bunch of other singers from the university and the community came together and sight-read large chunks of the oratorio. Chaos frequently ensued from the choir, but we could always count on the soloists to know their parts.

Handel wrote solos for soprano, mezzo, tenor, and bass. At least one year, there was only one woman on stage.

While the School of Music had its share of good mezzos, it also had a countertenor, who was frequently called into service for alto lines. The guy was amazing. Tenors seemed a little uncomfortable. Sopranos and basses were confused. Altos just envied his high notes.

I didn't realize this until recently, but there's a further speciality breed of countertenors known as 'sopranists', who have ridiculously high falsettos. I was introduced to the concept by watching a concert clip from a young Latvian guy, Vitas, who is quite possibly not human, if sonic quality is any indication (you tell me). There's no telling how accurate the Russian-English translation of his website is, but his header reads: "Vitas: The Artist Who has been Waited For". With rarity comes ego, I suppose...