Cecilia Bartoli: Sacrificium

О событии

One of today's top singers, Cecilia Bartoli will use the extraordinary character and versatility of her voice to explore the personal tragedy of castrated singers.

At the cusp of the Baroque and Classicist eras, some 4,000 boys had their manhood removed to allow them to pursue a career as castrati. Of these, the names of 100 remain today, but only the likes of Farinelli and Senesino were able to hone their singing talent to perfection and achieve widespread acclaim. Great composers were astonished by their singing range, monarchs vied for their favour and thousands worshipped them as stars of the day. Those wonderful pieces of music usually sung by countertenors today could only have been created thanks to the sacrifice of these young men.

Cecilia Bartoli pays tribute to this quirk of music history in this evening's concert programme entitled Sacrificium, at the Palace of Arts in Budapest.