Martha Eggerth heads the cast of Casta Diva, but the central character is famed Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, here played by American actor Phillips Holmes. Paying but scant attention the facts, ...

A while ago, the radio station that gives me breathing space on a Saturday morning decided to give itself a bit of publicity. So it ran a TV commercial pushing the sense of calm and well-being ...

In the recent film The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher leaves Number 10 for the last time to the sound of “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s Norma. The filmmakers obviously saw parallels between Norma, a ...

The operas of Vincenzo Bellini, with the sweet melancholy of his long, long melodies and the elaborate refinement of his technique, had an effect that went well beyond the genre: he had a huge pull on ...