Editing Countertenor (section)

=== 20th century ===
The most visible person of the countertenor revival in the twentieth century was [[Alfred Deller]], an English singer and champion of authentic early music performance. Deller initially identified as an "alto", but his collaborator [[Michael Tippett]] recommended the archaic term "countertenor" to describe his voice.<ref name="Giles1982" /> In the 1950s and 60s, his group, the [[Deller Consort]], was important in increasing audiences' awareness (and appreciation) of Renaissance and Baroque music. Deller was the first modern countertenor to achieve fame and has had many prominent successors. [[Benjamin Britten]] wrote the leading role of Oberon in his setting of ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)|A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' (1960) especially for Deller. The countertenor role of Apollo in Britten's ''[[Death in Venice (opera)|Death in Venice]]'' (1973) was created by [[James Bowman (countertenor)|James Bowman]], the best-known amongst the next generation of English countertenors. [[Russell Oberlin]] was Deller's American counterpart and another early music pioneer. Oberlin's success was entirely unprecedented in a country that did not have much experience of performance of works prior to [[Bach]], and it paved the way for the great success of countertenors following him.<ref name="Giles2005">{{harvnb|Giles|2005}}</ref> Oberlin, however, harked back to the earlier tradition of countertenors using only their modal voices.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YgrPBTRjMk|title=Russell Oberlin explica o que é um contratenor|website=YouTube|date=23 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316010040/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YgrPBTRjMk|archive-date=16 March 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Today, countertenors are much in demand in many forms of classical music. In opera, many roles originally written for castrati (castrated males) are now sung and recorded by countertenors, as are some [[Breeches role|trouser roles]] originally written for female singers. The former category is much more numerous and includes Orfeo in [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]]'s ''[[Orfeo ed Euridice]]'' and many Handel roles, such as the name parts in ''[[Rinaldo (opera)|Rinaldo]]'', ''[[Giulio Cesare]]'', ''[[Serse]]'' and ''[[Orlando (opera)|Orlando]]'', and Bertarido in ''[[Rodelinda (opera)|Rodelinda]]''.<ref name="Stark2003" /> [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] also had castrati roles in his operas, including Aminta in ''[[Il re pastore]]'', Cecilio in ''[[Lucio Silla]]'', Ramiro in ''[[La finta giardiniera]]'', Idamante in ''[[Idomeneo]]'', and Sesto in ''[[La clemenza di Tito]]''.

Many modern composers other than Britten have written, and continue to write, countertenor parts, both in choral works and opera, as well as songs and song-cycles for the voice. Men's choral groups such as [[Chanticleer (ensemble)|Chanticleer]] and [[The King's Singers]] employ the voice to great effect in a variety of genres, including early music, gospel, and even folk songs. Other recent operatic parts written for the countertenor voice include Edgar in [[Aribert Reimann]]'s ''[[Lear (opera)|Lear]]'' (1978), the messenger in his ''[[Medea (Reimann)|Medea]]'' (2010), Prince Go-Go in [[György Ligeti]]'s ''[[Le Grand Macabre]]'' (1978), the title role in [[Philip Glass]]'s ''[[Akhnaten (opera)|Akhnaten]]'' (1983), Claire in [[John Lunn]]'s ''The Maids'' (1998), the Refugee in [[Jonathan Dove]]'s ''[[Flight (opera)|Flight]]'' (1998), Trinculo in [[Thomas Adès]]'s ''[[The Tempest (opera)|The Tempest]]'' (2004), the Boy in [[George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin]]'s ''[[Written on Skin]]'' (2012) and several others (see [[Countertenor#Roles in opera and oratorio|Roles in opera]] below).