Long before botched plastic surgery ruined a movie star’s career, they were the original showbiz victims. Castrati were young opera singers in past centuries castrated to preserve a high-pitched voice ...

Everyone knows what a toll the rock-star lifestyle can exact. Drugs and alcohol are de rigueur, sexual promiscuity often comes with the territory, and loss of hearing is yet another occupational ...

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Cecilia Bartoli could have followed the path of least resistance. When the Italian mezzo-soprano burst onto the opera scene in the early '90s with a standard repertoire of ...

Opera latecomer Vivica Genaux builds a reputation by singing music originally performed by castrated men. The New York Times names her solo debut CD — composed of the "greatest hits" of famed ...

Richard Harvell's first novel, "The Bells http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307590526?ie=UTF8&tag=washpost-books-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0307590526 ...

THEY were described as perfect singing machines. Now the body of Farinelli, the most famous castrato opera singer, is to be exhumed to learn how he achieved such dulcet tones. “Farinelli was more ...

For centuries, their voices soared in gilded churches and candlelit concert halls - otherworldly, pure and achingly beautiful. But behind the ethereal sound of the castrato singers lay an unspeakable ...