Soaring success: out opera star David Daniels gives the first Carnegie Hall recital a countertenor. (music).

It wasn't practice that got opera star David Daniels to Carnegie Hall, at least not the first time. "In 1986, my partner, John, and I were in school at the Cincinnati Conservatory," he says. "We saved our pennies and got to New York City to hear Montserrat Caballe sing there. Growing up with parents who are music teachers and being around music my whole life, it was certainly a place where everyone wanted to perform."

This November the renowned singer will finally get the chance to perform at Carnegie Hall, capping off an American recital tour with a performance at the fabled venue. He will be the first countertenor--and one of only a rare few openly gay opera singers--to perform there in a solo recital. "It's so exciting to have the same doors opened for me and to be able to walk out onto the stage where I saw one of my favorite singers perform 16 years ago," he says.

Stout and scruffy, the 36-year-old Daniels looks more suited to a football field than La Fenice, but as a countertenor, the highest male voice in opera, he sings in a falsetto. "With my voice type, people don't expect me to be manly," he says. "I think it's always a surprise when people see a masculine singer come out and sing with this sound."

What doesn't surprise many people, Daniels says, is the fact that he's gay. "People sort of expect it; it's the norm. If you're a countertenor, if you sing so high, you're gay. But that's not always true. I haven't really gotten, `Oh, God, that gay countertenor,'" he says with mock exasperation, highlighting the stereotype associated with his sound. "I'm sure it's out there, but I don't get that a lot."

A South Carolina native who currently lives in Maryland with his partner of 16 years, the usually modest Daniels welcomes the fame that has come with being one of the most respected classical performers in the world. "I certainly don't have the voice of someone who's in the movies or in pop music or on television, but at least I do have some sort of public voice, and I think that's important," he says.

That voice is affecting people in ways Daniels never imagined. "I have a friend who teaches at a performing arts high school," he says. "One of the boys in his class has really struggled with being gay. He attempted suicide twice. But after reading articles about me, about a successful gay man so happy in a relationship, this boy said that those articles saved his life. They gave him hope. If my being out and open can help one person like that, then it's worth it."

Dukowitz has written for Salon.com.