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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

1562 The Sistine Chapel choir accepts its first castrato member. 1607 Claudio Monteverdi writes Orfeo, the first major opera, with several roles for castrati. 1737 Farinelli, the most celebrated of ...

Monsters and Prodigies: A History of the Castrati: By Jorge Kuri. Directed by Claudio Valdés Kuri. With Javier Medina, Kaveh Parmas, Raúl Román, Gastón Yanes, Miguel Ángel López et al. (Through Sun.

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 ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...