Morgan Mastrangelo here! I’m a second-year Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera. Through this initiative, I get to share the power and joy of opera with audiences of all ages, representing BLO on and offstage throughout Boston. 

Today, I have a challenge for you: Can you guess how many high Cs I sang with BLO this season? 

Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment holds a special place in my heart during my time with BLO. I sang the lead role of Tonio in the Opera on Tour version that BLO created for community and school performances, and this spring, I covered the role in the full BLO production at the Emerson Colonial Theatre. Opera fans may know Tonio for his famous “Ah! mes amis” aria, which contains a whopping nine high Cs! 

For tenors, a high C is our “money note” due to its difficulty of execution and storied place in operatic history. Only nine years before Daughter premiered in 1840, the French tenor Gilbert-Louis Duprez was the first tenor to sing a high C as a “chest” note – using his full voice rather than switching to a lighter mechanism – during the Italian premiere of Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. Rossini was horrified by the resulting sound, but the audience went wild for it, and tenors never looked back! 

Just how many high Cs did I sing for BLO audiences this season? Let’s do the math:  

“Ah! mes amis” By the Numbers

4 Street Stage performances 

3 Opera on Tour rehearsals 

1 Opera on Tour workshop presentation 

10 Opera on Tour performances 

1 Daughter of the Regiment workshop 

2 Getting into Opera @ GBH performances 

1 Opera Night @ BPL 

1 Daughter of the Regiment cover run 

23 Performances x 9 high Cs each = 207 high Cs!

Seeing young audiences react – especially kids who’ve never experienced operatic singing before – was by far my favorite memory of this year. Whether it was first thing in the morning or later in the afternoon, their eyebrows went up, shocked glances were exchanged, and smiles invariably broke out when they realized that wild sound was coming from a human voice! 

As we close out this season, I’m asking: will you make a gift to Boston Lyric Opera today? Your support enables moments like these, cementing an appreciation for the power of the human voice and a love of opera in the next generation. 
Thank you! 

Morgan Mastrangelo
BLO Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist (2024-2026)

Tenor Morgan Mastrangelo is a second-year Jane & Steven Akin Emerging Artist with Boston Lyric Opera, where their credits include Tonio (cover), Daughter of the Regiment; Enoch (cover), Carousel; Marzio (cover), Mitridate; Hades (cover, performed), Eurydice and Don Ramiro (cover), La Cenerentola. They have performed with companies like Opera Grand Rapids, Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Saratoga, Boston Baroque, and Emmanuel Music. They recently appeared with Contemporaneous in the world-premiere chamber-rock opera The Precipice, and at Lincoln Center as Michael in The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space, a role which they originated. Mastrangelo makes their mainstage debut with BLO in 2026/27 as Ruodi in William Tell.