travesti

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travesti (It. ‘disguised’.; Eng. ‘trousers-role’, ‘breeches-part’, Ger. Hosenrolle). Term to describe operatic roles which, though male characters, are sung by women, e.g. Romeo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Oktavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos.  

Can also be applied to men who play female roles (e.g. pantomime dames or in early Victorian operas, and baroque operas, e.g the Nurse in L'incoronazione di Poppea). Also the Madwoman in Curlew River.

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