Photo: Apple MusicOver My Head
Is That a Human Voice?
Everyone hearing a countertenor for the first time asks the same question.
How can such a voice—a voice high as moonlight yet warm as a chest—live inside a man’s body?
John Holiday’s debut album Over My Head is exactly that voice, singing an entire album about faith, love, and hope.
Only Songs That Mean Something
Holiday said it plainly in an interview: “I told Kevin—my pianist, my best friend—I didn’t want to include anything that doesn’t speak to my heart, mind and spirit. Because it has to mean something to me in order to mean something to the audience.”
So this album breaks all the rules. It is not a typical Baroque countertenor recital—it holds the spiritual “Over My Head,” his own arrangement of “Amazing Grace,” art songs by Leslie Adams and Robert Morris, and two world-premiere recordings by Theo Morrison and Carlos Simon.
Even “Fly Me to the Moon” and Gershwin’s “Summertime” are here.
The Heaviest Song
The one that stops your breath is “Strange Fruit.”
Abel Meeropol’s protest song about the dark history of lynching in the American South—Billie Holiday sang it, Nina Simone sang it. And now John Holiday sings it in the countertenor range, those high notes like cries carried from very far away.
The New York Times named this among the best classical albums of August 2026; Presto’s reviewer called it some of the most jaw-dropping singing he’d heard all year.
Taiwan Remembers Him
Taiwanese audiences already know this voice.
In late 2018, composer Huang Ruo’s chamber opera Paradise Interrupted came to Taiwan for its local premiere—the opening season of Weiwuying, followed by added performances at the National Theater in Taipei. Holiday sang First Male Voice, the voice singing at the edge of a dream.
If you were there, you’ve already heard him.
Further Listening
Fellow Pentatone artist Radvanovsky’s Puccini: Heroines offers another kind of vocal shock; Charlotte Hu’s Goyescas brings Spanish passion to the piano.
About the Performer
American countertenor from Marlin, Texas. Rose to mainstream fame on NBC's The Voice (2020); performs at major opera houses including LA Opera (Akhnaten, 2026) and Bavarian State Opera (Alcina, 2026).
Pianist and Holiday's longtime friend and collaborator.
About the Composer
African-American composer and arranger (1888–1970), master of the spiritual tradition.
African-American composer (1932–2022), known for his art songs.
Contemporary American composers whose works receive world-premiere recordings here.
Composers behind Summertime, Fly Me to the Moon, Strange Fruit, and Amazing Grace.
Taiwan Performance History
John Holiday performed in Taiwan in late 2018 with Huang Ruo's chamber opera Paradise Interrupted at its Taiwan premiere—staged in the opening season of Kaohsiung's Weiwuying and repeated at the National Theater in Taipei—singing the role of First Male Voice.