My range is Bflat 3 - Eflat 7, up to eflat 6 would classify me as a mezzo. But it is Eflat 7 i can reach. cheers, sparrow

A SOPRANO IS EXPECTED TO REACH C6 OR HIGH C ABOVE THAT IS CONSIDERED COLORATURA . I CANT TELL WHAT YOU ARE WITHOUT HEARING YOU BUT SOME MEZZO SOPRANOS CAN VOCALIZE AT C6 BUT CAN'T STAY UP THERE AS MUCH AS A SOPRANO CAN THATS WHERE THE DIFFERENCE IS. IF YOU WERE A MEZZO -SOPRANO/ALTO ODDS ARE YOU WOULDNT BE SINGING COLORATURA ARIAS WITHOUT VOCAL FATIGUE . I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU TRY SPEAKING AT YOUR MOST NATURAL PITCH ,TRY SAYING UH HUH OR HHMM LIKE YOU WOULD BE RESPONDNG TO A QUESTION AND SPEAK AT THAT TONE. YOU NEED TO BE SURE YOU ARE CHECKING WITH YOUR INSTRUCTOR ABOUT SINGING IN TENOR OR BASS I WAS TOLD BY MY VOICE TEACHER THAT IT IS EVEN HARMFUL FOR A CERTAIN VOICE TYPE TO BE MISCLASSIFIED SOPRANO OR/AS ALTO ,OR BARITONE AS TENOR VICE VERSA . IF I WERE YOU I WOULD EXPRESS MY CONCERN TO THE TEACHER AND JUST TO BE SURE HAVE HER RE-EVALUATE YOUR TYPE FOR REASSURANCE ** Sorry I get exited some times !

First of all, it's perfectly possible to be a coloratura mezzo or contralto -- coloratura simply refers to ones ability to sing the kind of florid vocal passages typically found in the works of Rossini and Mozart (as well as other bel canto composers). Rossini wrote a lot of stuff for coloratura contralto (Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri, to give one example) and for coloratura mezzo (Rosina in Il Barbiere). Singers who manage coloratura are also in demand for the works of Handel and other Baroque composers. Beyond range and flexibility, there's the further question of weight of voice. What repertoire do you sing with ease and facility? Where can you best be marketed -- opera, like most other performing arts, requires one to be type cast, to a certain extent. For example: in the soprano realm .... A lyric coloratura soprano, as a "fach", or vocal category, typically sings the roles of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Olympia in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman, Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Zerbinetta in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. A dramatic coloratura has more heft to the voice, and is the voice type able to sing a number of heavier, florid roles in Mozart, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi: for example Fiordiligi in Cosi and Constanze in Seraglio. Mozart's Queen of the Night is a special sub-category of the dramatic coloratura, because of the excessively high upper extension. Other typical roles would be Violetta from Verdi's Traviata and Norma from Bellini's opera..

I agree with canadianmezzo. If you have a flexible voice that can handle the coloratura, then you can call yourself a coloratura. I think labeling all leggiero soprano a \"coloratura\" is mistaken. It probably is easier for the leggiero than a contralto to do coloratura, but not all of them are good at it. Edita Gruberova (soprano), Vesselina Kasarova (mezzo-soprano), and Ewa Podles (contralto) are GREAT coloratura singers. So with practice any voice should be able to do the floritura. What voice you are probably depends more on where your passagio is... where does the voice change register? Is is comfortable singing below or above the break?