How to Use countertenor in a Sentence

countertenor

noun
Definition of countertenornext
  • The viol consort and the countertenor voice were once relics of the past.
    — Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2019
  • The arias for Dionysus, a countertenor role, are eerie tours de force.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021
  • The teachers were trying to treat me as a countertenor.
    — New York Times, 27 May 2022
  • And the countertenor Iestyn Davies, has managed to play both the Met and Broadway this season.
    — Charles Passy, WSJ, 7 Mar. 2018
  • One of the most recent is by the engaging French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky.
    — Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 11 Nov. 2020
  • The countertenors bear the musical legacy of the castrati, says Mr. Davies.
    — Alexandra Wolfe, WSJ, 20 Oct. 2017
  • Unnoticed by me was the fact that Tim was a countertenor, and I a bargain basement bass.
    — Kevin Fisher-Paulson, SFChronicle.com, 16 June 2020
  • The four male voices are countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass; and the one female voice is a soprano.
    — Mike Giuliano, baltimoresun.com, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Holiday is a countertenor with a love for opera, and his high range talents shocked the judges, three of whom turned (Blake Sheldon was the odd one out).
    — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 20 Oct. 2020
  • The countertenor double feels like the kind of idea that gets embraced at a brainstorming session.
    — New York Times, 24 Nov. 2021
  • As the group began its final performance of the day, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo kicked off the show from the bed of the truck.
    — Robert Bumsted, Star Tribune, 13 Oct. 2020
  • Seven arias pierce the performance, sung onstage by the countertenor Iestyn Davies.
    — Cullen Murphy, Vanities, 14 Dec. 2017
  • The countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim made a headstrong Nero, with his wildly punkish blond hair and a wiry physique always coiled and ready to pounce.
    — Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2017
  • His countertenor voice and phrasing—both mellifluous and frayed around the edges—convey anguish and hope.
    — Marc Myers, WSJ, 12 Feb. 2022
  • And Washington is our modern Versailles, just as sick as the palace of the French royals but without the rouge and powdered wigs and countertenors.
    — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 1 June 2018
  • Even connoisseurs argue over the true countertenor's range.
    — Rick Schultz, latimes.com, 18 Apr. 2018
  • But many contemporary composers, like Philip Glass and Thomas Ades, are making use of countertenors as well.
    — Washington Post, 2 July 2019
  • For a countertenor, Orliński has a voice that does not go especially high.
    — Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 15 July 2019
  • David Daniels arrived at the University of Michigan highly regarded as one of the great countertenor opera singers of his time.
    — David Jesse, Detroit Free Press, 9 Apr. 2020
  • Daniel Bubeck was a rather hooty version of a countertenor — and there’s little evidence that Bach had his alto solos sung by falsettists, as opposed to boys.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 1 May 2023
  • This was the brainchild of the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who accompanied squads of players in more than eighty concerts across the five boroughs.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • The idea behind this recital from a noted countertenor and a lutenist is simple: Shakespeare’s words, set to music, interspersed with readings from the playwright, given by the actor Simon Jones.
    — David Allen, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Ms. Amereau is herself something of a welcome throwback at a time when countertenors have all but displaced contraltos in early music.
    — James R. Oestreich, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2017
  • The clarion-voice countertenor John Holiday breaks your heart as John Blue, a transgender man embraced by this new family.
    — Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2017
  • Indeed, only by sticking to a film format could the lightweight company have secured a star as luminous as countertenor Bejun Mehta, brimming with pathos in the lead role.
    — Hannah Edgar, chicagotribune.com, 8 Dec. 2021
  • The one disappointment was Biraj Barkakaty as the third Israelite, whose smallish countertenor failed to project adequately over the orchestra.
    — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 28 Feb. 2018
  • Nicholas Garza gave Rinaldo a mostly mellow countertenor.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 9 Mar. 2020
  • Mary of Clopas, a role originally sung by a castrato (an adult male whose boyhood high voice had been preserved by castration), was portrayed by Daniel Bubeck with a muffled, hooty countertenor.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 19 Apr. 2021
  • As Song, Kangmin Justin Kim used his versatile countertenor to trace his character’s development from meek to forceful.
    — Dallas News, 1 Aug. 2022
  • Anthony Roth Costanzo, acclaimed countertenor with the Metropolitan Opera, hopped into the bed of the pickup with a microphone.
    — Evan Simko-Bednarski, CNN, 29 Aug. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'countertenor.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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