Greg Pritchard - Male Soprano on Britain's Got Talent

A 24-year-old male sopranist, Greg Pritchard, appeared on Britain's Got Talent recently and did very well. I think this is great and that it is the perfect way of introducing the phenomenon to the very generic audience. I am immensly happy about this having finally happened and wish the young sopranist the best of luck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBHm-kJib4E

I dont normally watch Britains got Talent but it was on in the background and I wasn't really taking notice until Greg Pritchard started to sing and his voice really got my attention.

But I must say I was amazed at Simon Cowells reaction since I thought he was supposed to be well versed in the music business and good at recognizing talent but instead he acted like he had never heard of male singers with beautiful high voices. His comment 'Sounds like a dog pretending to be a cat' showed a completely philestine appreciation of this side of music.

Despite seeing his underlying nervousness I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and would love to hear him singing other pieces.

So may I echo the comments already made and wishing Greg does really well in this contest.

Yeah I just found it in my daily male soprano search on YouTube. I too was slightly surprised about his reaction but maybe he just wanted to make a witty comment or something.

His voice is by no means perfect, but with further correct training, I believe it could certainly become quite beautiful. Whether he receives that training or not is another thing. However, as I said above, he has made a very precious contribution for raising the awareness for high male voices for the general public.

True Greg Pritchards voice isnt perfect, he has a long way to go before it will compare with that of someone like Andreas Scholl but I dont think we saw his full range with Nessum Dorma plus he is an obviously natural talent and the nervousness of a total unknown having to stand up and sing in front of an X-million audience cant have helped. So as you said with the right training his voice could be really beautiful.

We need more people like Greg in the mainstream to bring these wonderful sounds to a wider audience and with his good looks and natural charisma he could be just the right person to do it.

I just hope they keep him in the show long enough for someone to come along with what it takes to give Greg the training and exposure he needs and which that voice of his truely deserves.

My having listened to the video of his performance, I would have to guess that he has done a lot of singing at home (probably with great joy and enthusiasm...more power to him), but perhaps with little if any training. If he can find the right voice coach and train correctly, he might have a career.

He needs to realize, however, that immitating female sopranos (or singing tenor arias an octive higher), using a 20th century, loose and careless technique (that is too prevalent among many but not all singers), is not what is required for most of the music written for high male voices such as the Baroque era. He could concentrate upon suitable arias for his voice and leave tenor arias such a Nessum Dorma to Jusi Bjorling (who did a superior job of it...hear it on YouTube).

I have just been sent the link to Greg Pritchard singing and I am just blown away. I have not heard a Male Soprano before, and I am sold!!
There is something about the male voice singing in this register, like a boy soprano, it is different, pure, beautiful...............I LOVE IT!!!

I'm always happy when someone discovers the beauty of the high male voice. Welcome. Undoubtedly, you will enjoy hearing other voices which you can find in the video section.

He should have sang a real soprano or alto aria nd not a tenor aria one octave higher.

I am not sure, not for this show. This particular work is very popular so all he had to do was perform it sufficiently well. The audience already knew the song so there was no need for absolute clarity, which helped him. I am not sure how he is going to go through the contest, but he will have to choose songs similar to his initial entry that he is also capable of singing well enough. Opera tenors are presently more popular than opera sopranos in popular culture ( take The Three Tenors for example ) so there are not as many soprano or alto songs that the public knows that well. Boy choir songs like Pie Jesu or Panis Angelicus are also out of the question because his voice is simply not good enough yet to perform them properly.

Hi:
I'm new to the forum, can't sing a note, and have never been to an opera. However, Greg Pritchard's performance on BGT has gotten me very interested (as I think he will a lot of people who have never enjoyed this beautiful music). I have been reading about Male Sopranos (and maybe I'll find more when I investigate this forum), but I don't understand if Greg is a 'true' soprano. Could someone explain? Thanks

High male voices are still an obscure topic so answering your question with a yes or a no is not very possible.

The short answer would, however, be no. His voice is not of a very natural color, it's produced using falsetto ( only a small fragment of the vocal chords vibrate ). There's nothing 'false' about falsetto but generally, a singer employing falsetto would not be titled as a true soprano. Men who sing alto using falsetto are usually called countertenors and those who sing soprano using falsetto are called sopranists. Male sopranos would be the group of men who have a true soprano voice ( check Radu Marian ). These terms are not globally recognized though and are often used differently.

To make things super confusing, there are singers such as Patrick Husson and Randall Wong who do have a baritone or a tenor chest register but nonetheless have a true soprano sound and are therefore titled as such. It's very hard to say, however, whether these singers are using falsetto, natural head voice ( which an ordinary soprano would use ) or something that we simply don't have a term for because it's so rare. Another example of this voice is perhaps a recent member of this site. I believe he is quite close to acheive a vocal color of a true soprano.

I hope I didn't confuse you even more. Unfortunately that is often what happens when the vocabulary is limited.

thanks for answering in such detail. I will try to learn more.

My pleasure. Other informative members will soon also provide you with replies here, I am sure. Listening is much more important though and then asking questions about the voices. Such interactive learning is much more natural and easier in my opinion . It's good to have some things clarified first though so feel free to ask questions, of course.

I am a new member too and although I loved the idea of castrati and watched Farinelli and bought the soundtrack and saw Michael Maniaci discuss castrati on a documentary, Gregg Pritchard just reminded me how much I love high male voices. I searched and found this site in hopes of discovering performances to attend and other singers. Great site.

He also sounds a bit squeaky i think; he is not really used to it

I wonder what he's going to sing next now that he has done this. I mean, he can't possibly do English songs as the audience would then recognize his problem with pronounciation. Of course it'd be best for him to sing a baroque work but I'm not even sure if he's allowed to sing that.

New member here trying to get information. What do you mean the audience would know that his pronunciation is bad? How do you know that his English pronunciation is bad? I ask this as a novice who loves opera but has no schooling in it?

I also want to talk about the comments on you tube, forums, etc. I Googled - Is Greg Pritchard a good counter tenor? because I really want to know if he is. I know that most people cannot sing like he can, but is he good compared to counter tenor standards? I don't know. I like him but am I a good judge?

I got the most mind blowing hits on google. I got - yeah he is good, but can he sing the entire Journey catalog (from a Journey fan board!) Then there are some comments on the you tube sites which state that the Beegees are better than he is. (Really I almost fell over!) I hope that those who know about this talent will put out more information for people and respond to such stuff. I really believe people just don't know.

As for his next song...perhaps he needs to do Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen? I want him to win. Maybe this is the only way to do it.

I disagree with the falsetto use for countertenors. Using adducted vocal cords isn't falsetto.

chris

For those of you who advocated more training for Pritchard, apparently that was his plan. His father passed away unexpectedly 2 years ago. Greg had to move back home to help take care of his mother and siblings. He had secured a benefactor and acceptance to Italia Conti Academy, but the benefactor pulled out after the credit crunch hit.
Britiain's Got Talent star Greg Pritchard feared credit crunch had killed his career - mirror.co.uk

I feel that he has a great future ahead. I wish him the best.

c.

I think you got mre wrong there. I'm not saying his English pronounciation is bad, he can speak it just fine. What I was referring to is countertenors' and, especially, sopranists' ( Greg is a sopranist ) struggle with enunciation. It is something that is usually worked on over time and only the very best of those singers are able to sing with as clear enunciation as other singers. If Greg would sing a known English song, the audience would notice how terribly the lyrics were delivered and we might not care, I believe the judges would be mad and a good part of the audience as well. Therefore, I think he should stick to popular italian opera songs .

As for Greg's position amongst other countertenors, I would say that he is rather good, but we cannot estimate his true worth with this song because it's not a good one for a countertenor or a sopranist. For top notch countertenors, check Andreas Scholl, Philippe Jaroussky ( he's sometimes referred to as a sopranist though ) and Paul Esswood. For male sopranos, check Randall Wong and Radu Marian. For a great sopranist who nonetheless does have trouble with enunciation like Greg, check Aris Christofellis ( his technique is remarkable despite of his vocal color which is sometimes referred to as being 'an acquired taste', and his trouble with enunciation. I'd say that Greg's vocal color is a bit better than Christofellis's though ).

If I hadn't liked Greg I wouldn't have posted this topic. I am extremely happy for someone like him to finally have taken the step and made a proper introduction to the high male voice to the general audience.

thanks for all these very interesting explanatory notes - I was aware of counter tenors and had been taken to hear a very famous man in the 60s ( sorry can't recall his name now) in UK. My father was ( and I think still is) a member at Glyndebourne so we had a reasonable musical education but the technical information you give is new to me, eg about his diction. I had assumed that he was sufficiently nervous to have lost the plot and forgotten the words, and not had enough operatic Italian to pick up the thread again.
I live in Canada now and can only access the bgt site through youtube - can anyone tell me when Greg is next likely to sing on bgt, and when the final is?
Also interested to know if anyone has any information on Sergej Jegers, who sings a lovely Ave Maria which is online but I couldn't find more about his career.
Thanks again.

My family and I have been watching the various talent clips of Britain's Got Talent these last few weeks. My father mentioned Greg Pritchard as one to watch. I pulled his clip up this morning and have watched it several times this morning. His voice is beautiful to hear. My late husband was a first tenor, had a lovely voice with passion which was wonderful to hear, and to hear this young man is a treat as well.

After reading the posts in this thread as well as other comments on Mr. Pritchard's performance, it's true he's raw and needs training, but isn't that part of the beauty of his performance? His passion for music shines through, and his interaction with the audience is priceless.

And isn't it also true that true talent comes in the perseverance of our dreams? I think of Susan Boyle, Jamie Pugh, Paul Potts, and Andrew Johnston on this show, and how they kept their dreams alive while waiting for the opportunity to shine. Let's say Mr. Pritchard goes on to have a good career and becomes the world-wide performer he dreams of being, for him will there ever be anything to compare to his stepping on that stage and getting immediate recognition of his talent? As a viewer, I think I treasure the light in his eyes upon hearing the applause and seeing the ovation as much as his rendition.

My late husband said that having a high pitched speaking, as well as singing, voice often brought ridicule, especially as a child. To know that boys and men who deal with that cruelty by continuing on with their dreams is just fantastic and so inspiring.

I wish Mr. Pritchard the best. I look forward to learning more about Male Sopranos and Altos on this site.

Your husband was correct in that there is ridicule. When I was in my 20's I sounded like a woman with my voice (or so I was told). Both singing and speaking. Only after many years did my speaking voice drop to sound "normal". I also lost some of my singing range (was 4 octaves in my 20's). I didn't sing high for 20+ years until recently. So I think we need to rally behind our CT brethren and give them as much support as we can.

chris

After watching the video clip of Mr. Pritchard a few more times, it quickly becomes apparent that the audience has a much faster and greater appreciation of his talent than the judges do. Since a group of people listen/watch the talent before they are chosen to appear onstage, I wonder if the producers considered Mr. Pritchard a serious contestant or a joke. Perhaps the audience's reaction will help producers and directors of main-stream entertainment realize they that they, not the audience, have a more restricted sense of what "works" and what doesn't. We need a strong reminder of how much is capable of the human voice, how people develop their own individual instruments, and how to pursue the enjoyment of this spectrum. People's cruelty to bring down those who are different only shows how insecure the bullies are in living in the world around them, and unfortunately, how much sway these bullies have on the unelightened.