Countertenors are a rare breed.

They are even more rare in Maine, so it was a particular treat for the capacity audience Sunday at the Congregational Church of Blue Hill to hear one sing in person.

Daniel Taylor, 30, has already achieved a fair amount of fame in the classical music world, having performed at Glyndebourne and at the Metropolitan Opera, recorded Handel’s “Rinaldo” with Cecilia Bartoli, and won Canada’s OPUS award, that country’s highest honor for classical musicians, as Artist of the Year. His success is particularly noteworthy given the unusual vocal part he sings, that of the countertenor.

The answer to how countertenors are developed depends on whom you ask. Some will claim they are naturally extended from the tenor voice, while others believe they are made from the male’s falsetto voice. In any event, it is an attempt to bring back the sound of the castrati of the 17th and 18th centuries without the physical cruelty. Though modern countertenors can never physically achieve the powerful, agile and penetrating trumpeting quality rumored to have existed in the original castrati, the modern result is an otherworldly sound sometimes rivaling the tone and power of a spinto soprano.

Though he occasionally sacrificed diction in favor of tone and line, Taylor demonstrated his technical ability mostly in the second half of the program, comprising the operatic music of Georg Friedrich Handel. His expressive performance of “Cara sposa, cara amante” from “Rinaldo” was both mournful and defiant, effectively balancing the expressive nature of an operatic performance against the reserved quality of a recital.

Taylor’s greatest moment of the afternoon came with his recitation of Guilio Cesare in Egitto’s “Domero la tua fierezza,” a fiery number in which Cleopatra’s power-hungry brother Ptolemy gloats over her of his military defeat. Taylor finally unleashed his brilliant upper register and coloratura on the audience, drawing extended applause.

Taylor’s choice of a second encore drew sighs of appreciation from the opening bars. His performance of Handel’s “Ombra mai fu” was serene, with moments of supreme beauty.

Taylor exhibited his mastery of a difficult vocal technique, the messa di voce, in which a singer must sustain one note while slowly and smoothly crescendoing from a pianissimo to a forte and back down to pianissimo on Dowland’s “I Saw My Lady Weep” one of the folk songs performed in the first half of the program. He also quite effectively used a straight tone to depict the pathos of the piece, holding vibrato until the last moments of the line, including it almost as an afterthought. This song stood out among the first half as being the most expressive.

Taylor was ably accompanied by Gerald Wheeler, now the organist and choir director at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Blue Hill, on piano and harpsichord. Taylor performed solo pieces of Francois Couperin and Handel to break up both the first and second sets. Wheeler’s performance of Handel’s “Air and Variations from Harpsichord Suite No. 5 in E Major” was much better than his Couperin, demonstrating a deeper understanding of Handelian expression and dynamics. Wheeler also humorously sang two verses of “The Foggy Foggy Dew” with Taylor, providing comic relief in the afternoon of desire, longing and revenge.

Taylor’s performance was part of the Blue Hill Chamber Concert series. Coming events include the New England Piano Quartette performing Beethoven, Martinu and Faure on March 5, and the Whitman String Quartet from New York on March 12. For information on the Blue Hill Chamber Concerts, contact the Blue Hill Concert Association, P.O. Box 140, Blue Hill 04614.