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.

Robert McPherson has been singing since he was a very young boy. “I was a preacher’s kid, I grew up singing gospel,” he says. Decades have passed since he performed his first solo, but McPherson's ...

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, ...