Male soprano Maayan Licht is making U.S. debut in Tucson

“Sopranista Fireworks” on Oct. 10 at DesertView Performing Arts Center in SaddleBrooke and Sunday, Oct. 11, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church will be Licht’s United States debut.

SASO Music Director Linus Lerner will direct Licht in several operative arias in the second half of the concert, which opens with Morton Gould’s “American Salute.”

Licht, 33, has made a career in his native Israel and throughout Europe, including in Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, singing Baroque opera, particularly formerly castrato roles in works by Handel, Bach and Mozart.

Back in the 16th century, when women were not allowed to perform in public, soprano roles were given to vocalists who were castrated before puberty so their voices remained high. The practice was discontinued centuries ago.

Licht is one of four or five male vocalists worldwide whose range reaches higher than most female sopranos.

In a number of interviews, Licht recounts that he trained his voice from early childhood by imitating the ding of the family’s microwave and the birds whistling outside.

It wasn’t until he was 17 that he started taking voice lessons; he told interviewers he wanted to be a pop singer like Beyoncé, but when his first music teacher tested his vocal range, urging him to go higher, higher, higher, she was so impressed by his talent that she encouraged him to pursue opera.

Licht practiced a rigorous upper-register technique and breath control when he started studying voice at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he earned a music voice degree in early music.

In the handful of years since graduating, Licht has appeared in operas including singing the role of Laertes in Gasparini’s “Ambleto”; the title role in Handel’s “Xerxes”; and Cherubino in Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro.”

Last year he won “Best Newcomer” award at Germany’s International Opera Awards to add to his 2023 Grand Prize win at the Vienna International Music Competition.

SASO and Licht will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at DesertView, 39900 S. Clubhouse Drive; and at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Andrew’s, 7575 N. Paseo Del Norte. Tickets are $35 for DesertView and $30 for St. Andrew’s, through sasomusic.org.