6:45
In most musical Passion settings, the role of Jesus Christ is sung by a baritone or a bass.
But in William Cooper’s new Passion, Jesus will be played by a soprano.
“I thought giving the role of Jesus to a high soprano would set the character apart from the others and mark the character as being divine and other,” Cooper says.
He wanted to feature a female voice in his setting because women are largely silent in the Biblical texts.
“I was looking through the cast of characters in the gospel account,” he explains, “and all of the big speaking roles are male.”