Mezzo-sopranos occasionally sing secondary roles within operas, sustaining Bizet's Carmen and Rosina (inside Rossini's Barber of Seville) as a virtually all notable exceptions. Average roles for mezzo-sopranos include "witches, britches, and bitches", a most common expression that summarizes their work inside opera. Witches come a old hags, nurses, & caring women that come seen within operas, like Azucena & Ulrica. Britches come breeches roles, males roles typically played by mezzo-sopranos, like Cherubino & Octavian. Bitches come a sultry seducers that lead men astray, like Carmen, Venus, & Dalila.

A select few roles intended for soubrette sopranos are too typically sung by mezzo sopranos. This gives the roles a fuller & supplementary striking quality, which typically lawsuits the babies swell. Such roles include Despina within Cosi Fan Tutte and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. More roles intended for striking sopranos hike the ticket line between soprano & mezzo territory. Mezzos quite typically play Santuzza around Cavalleria Rusticana, Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth, and possibly Isolde around Tristan und Isolde. These examples come only proof that a line between soprano & mezzo soprano is non clearly defined.

Mezzo-soprano roles
Carmen (Carmen) Mercedes (Carmen) Rosina (The Barber of Seville) 2nd Lady (The Magic Flute) Meg Website (Falstaff) Makila (Lakmé) Nicklausse (Tales of Hoffman) Madellena (Rigoletto) Perziosilla (La Forza del Destino) Laura (La Gioconda) Venus (Tannhauser) Olga (Eugene Onegin) Brangane (Tristan und Isolde) Suzuki (Madame Butterfly) Lola (Cavalleria Rusticana) Flora (La traviata) Alisa (Lucia di Lammermoor) Emilia (Otello) La Zia Principessa (Suor Angelica) Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro) Marcellina (Le Nozze di Figaro) Dorabella (Cosi Fan Tutte) Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier) Amneris (Aida) Princess Eboli (Don Carlo) Ottavia (''L'Incoronazione di Poppea) Dalila (Samson et Dalila) The Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos) Orfeo (Orfeo ed Euridice) Sonyetka (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) A Countess (The Queen of Spades) Baba a Turk (The Rake's Progress) Gertrude (Hamlet) Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) Cenerentola (La Cenerentola) Mignon (Mignon)

Famous mezzo-sopranos
Classical music
Dame Janet Baker Agnes Baltsa Fedora Barbieri Cecilia Bartoli Teresa Berganza Olga Borodina Fiorenza Cossotto Grace Bumbry Annette Daniels Barbara Dever Brigitte Fassbaender Elina Garanca Maria Gay Rita Gorr Denyce Graves Monica Groop Marilyn Horne Vesselina Kasarova Magdalena Kožená Marjana Lipovšek Christa Ludwig Carla Maffioletti Anne-Sofie von Otter Regina Resnik Rinat Shaham Giulietta Simionato Frederica von Stade Conchita Supervia Dame Kiri te Kanawa Salli Terri Tatiana Troyanos Jard van Nes Shirley Verrett Carolyn Watkinson

Popular and crossover music
NOTE: Within virtually all lawsuits, these are non conceivable to buy the reputable source for the vocal range of popular singers. It seems virtually all list were enrolled in this button on an empirical basis. It must exist as noted that in the popular globe, the vocal range of a singer is typically by artificial means enhanced.''

Cindy Birdsong Mary J. Blige Carol Burnett Karen Carpenter Natalie Cole Deborah Cox Dido Roberta Flack Aretha Franklin Judy Garland Debbie Gravitte Whitney Houston Lauryn Hill Janet Jackson Katherine Jenkins Cindy Lauper Lynda Laurence Amy Lee Patti LuPone Madonna Idina Menzel Ethel Merman Bette Midler Sinéad O'Connor Jane Olivor Edith Piaf Raven-Symoné Tina Turner Carrie Underwood Tamia Washington Mary Wilson