Sopranos aren’t always women.
There’s the boy soprano–like the wonderful Michael Kepler Meo appearing in New York City Opera‘s Seance on a Wet Afternoon. And plenty of sopranos pretending to be boys (trouser roles). There’s also the countertenor, or a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or (less frequently) a soprano.
Sometimes, sopranos aren’t even human.
My favorite non-human soprano is the African grey parrot who sings (or used to sing–sadly, the parrot died) “The Queen of the Night Aria” from The Magic Flute. In this video, little Menino hits notes I could only dream of reaching.
Menino’s performance was so inspiring, I refer to an opera-singing parrot in honor of Menino, in a scene from my opera book.
