Choral singing has long had a gender-bending history, but women singing tenor is a recent phenomenon. (Chris Maddaloni / CQ Roll Call via Getty Images) When I was 18 years old, I wanted to sing tenor.

“Don’t you know that a tenor is a being apart, who holds the power of life and death over the works he sings, over the composers and consequently over poor devils of players . . . He is not a denizen ...

When I was 18 years old, I wanted to sing tenor. I didn’t make a big deal of it when I was rejected. Those days were like the Dark Ages for gender parity. A girl singing a guy’s part? Forget it. And, ...