Aris Christofellis ( el, Άρης Χριστοφέλλης; born 5 February 1960) is a Greek

sopranist A sopranist (also, sopranista or male soprano) is a male singer who is able to sing in the vocal tessitura of a soprano usually through the use of falsetto or head voice vocal production. This voice type is a specific kind of countertenor. In ra ...

(male soprano singer) and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Life and career

Aris Christofellis was born in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. After studying

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

in Athens and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with several teachers including the famous pianist France Clidat, he decided to concentrate on developing his male soprano singing voice, studying with Fofi Sarandopoulo. He made his debut in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in 1984. In 1985 he sang

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's ''

Exsultate, jubilate ' (Exult, rejoice), K. 165, is a 1773 motet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. History This religious solo motet was composed when Mozart was staying in Milan during the production of his opera '' Lucio Silla'' which was being performed there in the ...

'' at

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

Midem Classique inauguration concert. His repertoire extends from

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

to contemporary music, but he focuses on the Italian

baroque opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

of the 18th and early 19th century. As a musicologist, he has brought to light many works of this period and has dealt in particular with the ornamentation of the vocal music of the 18th and 19th centuries. As a performer, in addition to lieder and folk songs he concentrates on Baroque opera, and he is known for singing roles written for

castrati A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

. He maintains an extensive discography with several recordings for

EMI Classics EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded musi ...

between the mid 1990s and early 2000. Since the end of the 1990s, Christofellis has significantly reduced his concert and opera performances and has started a career as a singing teacher.

References

External links

The World of the Castrati and Male Soprano

Aris Christofellis

1960 births Living people Singers from Athens Sopranists Greek musicologists Voice teachers 20th-century Greek male opera singers Performers of early music {{Opera-singer-stub EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists