What does the operatic Castrato voice have in common with the trans-male voice? How were Castrati viewed in their time? How does one re-learn to sing after second puberty?
Castrati were renowned in their day for their extraordinary voices. Their unique timbre, range and flexibility were unrivaled in Europe. The grisly techniques of the era unearth a lot of ethical quandaries, and leave a trail of bloody spectacle through the European renaissance and into the modern era. Ultimately, the Castrato’s voice went extinct in 1922, with the death of Alessandro Moreschi, and became the stuff of legend. There are only a few grainy recordings that give us the merest glimpse of its astonishing beauty. The HRT trans-masculine voice was pioneered in 1940 by Michael Dillon. This voice is awkward, uncelebrated and overlooked, most often its largest ambition is to merely pass unnoticed into history. These two voices never stood on the same stage. Kit Spencer explores the unlikely parallels between the male Castrato voice and the trans-male voice, and poses the question: What if the transmasculine voice is just as remarkable as the Castrato?This performance explores history, biology, musicology, self-determination and transition. Follow Kit as he re-learns how to sing through his second puberty, and watch him negotiate legibility, congruence, tradition and joy.
