A sopranista is a male singer who sings music written in the soprano vocal range. Distinct from a countertenor, who trains himself to use the whole of the vocal cords to produce a fuller tone, the sopranista uses less of the thick part of the vocal cords - thereby allowing access to an extremely high range. One of the terms for this is the unsupported falsetto voice. (There is still some speculation over this voice type's true technique.)
There is a large body of music for male soprano written when it was common to use a castrato - a voice type which, for all intents and purposes, no longer exists. Sopranistas are very rare, and do not have the power of voice which a castrato would have had.
Present day sopranistas include:
A famous sopranista from earlier times was Giovan Battista Velluti , for whom Rossini wrote the role of Arsace in Aureliano in Palmir .
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