For a solid portion of musical history, castrato singers or ‘castrati’ had a prominent role in operas, churches and courts across Europe. But why were young boys forced to undergo the gruesome ...

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 ...

Historians and scientists have exhumed the remains of the legendary castrato Farinelli in Italy, to study the anatomical effects of castration carried out on young boys to turn them into high-pitched ...

The Division of the Humanities once again will showcase a wealth of artistic and intellectual talent at the 32nd annual Humanities Day, on Oct. 23. Alumni, students, parents, and community members can ...

Revelations that the Vatican encouraged the castration of choir boys in the name of art for hundreds of years have prompted calls for a papal apology. Human rights groups, historians and Italian ...

You're a young boy living in poverty, and your parents don't know how they're going to keep you fed. If you're growing up in the Dominican Republic in 2009, they may pray that a baseball scout will ...

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 ...

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. A high-pitched voice, questionable sexuality, and ear-grabbing ...

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 ...

A new exhibition, however, is hoping to overcome the public's squeamishness on the subject by telling the stories of the band of castrati singers who worked for the composer George Frideric Handel. It ...