Heavenly voices. Devilish behaviour. The time is 1700, the place Rome; the Pope has banned women from performing in public. Young boys are sold to the church and castrated to keep their high voices. Consequently, castrati performed the female as well as the male roles, were adored like pop stars and discovered the perfect disguise for visiting a lady’s boudoir. Castradiva weaves a tale of the amazing lives of the castrati around some of the finest arias Handel and Gluck wrote for them. Seven arias and seven scenes tell the story, populated by six characters adorned with costumes, wigs and commedia masks. Ranging from love to murder, subterfuge to stupidity - tragedy and comedy combine in an extraordinary story. Performed by virtuosic opera singer and actress Buddug Verona James - her feel and passion for the music were described simply as "wonderfully expressive singing" in the Sunday Times and "luscious, suave and creamy" in the New York Times. The music is provided live on authentic instruments (harpsichord, viola da gamba and baroque violin)

Opera Today 2008 - Buddug is compared to Bartoli!

Picture: