There is another sopraniste in New York, Kyle Church Cheseborough, who sang my
"Three Songs on Poems by Sappho" last October here in Toronto. He does not have
a CD yet, but I am sure he will have a brilliant career. He has a high D effortlessly
and a strong voice in this register, unlike most castrati. If you don't see this one
you would think it is a woman singing. Normally castrati have delicate voices which
require a great deal of attention in writing for them. Christofellis who is a good
friend is having a brilliant career in Europe and I think Cheseborough will have
a brilliant career soon (he is still a student at the Manhatan School of Music. You
may want to inquire with the school for more info on him.) In terms of surgical versus endocrinological castrati, I must confess I only know of the latter kind. I do not
know if we will ever be able to know the difference between the two. There is an
increasing number of countertenors around (Toronto's Carl Strigg is one of the finest
examples) with extended upper ranges, but castrati are still a very rare breed. There are
certainly more out there that I know. My own interest in them, which is amateurish at best,
began after Christofellis commissioned me to write a piece for him and then was unable to
do it because he is taking time off singing to lower his voice to that of a countertenor.
At that point (and with a New Music Concerts retrospective concert of my music approaching)
I went into a frantic search for a replacement, hence Cheseborough.


[by the Greek/Canadian compososer Christos Hatzis]