2015 Buenos Aires

Note: This is a machine-based translation. It provides a general idea of the article's contents but should not be considered definitive.

Centro Cultural Kirchner

José Cura dirigirá a la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional

El elenco ofrece un concierto el jueves 30 de julio a las 21, en la sala La Ballena Azul.

Jueves 30 de julio de 2015

21:00 a 23:00
Centro Cultural Kirchner
Sarmiento 151, ciudad de Buenos Aires

Tenor, conductor and composer Argentine José Cura will lead the National Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, 30 July, at 21:00 in La Ballena Azul of the Centro Cultural Kirchner.

The concert will offer free admission and tickets may be acquired online from 26 July from 10:00 until 18:00, via the website http://www.culturalkirchner.gob.ar/ tickets section or by telephone at (011) 6841-6400. You may reserve up to two locations per person and you must enter your full name and the DNI of both people.

The program will include fragments from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet with the soloists Guadalupe Barrientos, Enrique Folger, Tabering Daniela Fabian Veloz, Laura Polverini and Laura Domingue as well as the Symphony No. 9, also known as the New World Symphony, by Antonín Dvořák

The concert can also be followed on the giant high definition screens with high fidelity sound which will be installed on the outside of the Centro Cultural Kirchner.

Born in Rosario in 1962, José Cura is one of the biggest names in international opera. He is also a conductor, a director, and composer.

He studied guitar, conducting, composition, and singing from an early age. At 21 he won a scholarship to study at the Teatro Colón, where he perfected his singing and performed for several years in the professional choir of the theater.

In 1991, Cura traveled to Europe and in 1997 he settled in Spain, where he still lives.

He has sung in major theaters around the world and conducted some of the most important orchestras in Europe. Throughout his career, he has been named Professor Honoris Causae, University CAECE, honorary citizen of Rosario, Knight of the order of the Cedar by the Lebanese Government, and appointed Director Principal Guest of the Symphonia Varsovia in Warsaw. He is also the patron of the New Devon Opera and Vice-President of the British Youth Opera.

Famous for his particular vision of Otello, Cura is entering a new facet of his career, in which he is developing a greater emphasis on his profile as a conductor.

Concert - Buenos Aires

Note: This is a machine-based translation. It provides a general idea of the article's contents but should not be considered definitive--especially when the words are José Cura's own.

About the Emotional Concert on 30 July at the CCK

José Cura

31 July 2015

Everything was ready to make a memorable concert—and it was—but in a sense that was not planned:

Within twenty minutes of starting, an ugly storm hit the city and apparently lightning burned several electrical connections at the CCK.

The stage and auditorium went dark. Emergency lights were turned on and the audience relaxed.

Problems on the stage persisted. For a very long ten minutes I talked to the audience, telling them things about Carmen, its composer Bizet, and so on while waiting for the lights to come back on but I could not, even though I love doing it, spend the entire night talking. People had come to hear music…

The National Symphony Orchestra, in a grand gesture of solidarity, proposed to play another number even in ‘half-light.’ It was a run of Carmen: not very difficult but delicate. I realized that, despite the goodwill of the musicians, the low visibility compromised the musical result and when the series finished, I left the stage to talk with technicians to get an idea of how serious the problem was. It was then that I learned about the lightning storm. It was quickly proposed to use as a guide the stage lights (which are used for theatrical lighting, which is different from those used to read) that would point at the musician. These lights, as beautiful as they may be, are not intended to be used as reading lights so that the solution, despite being the only one available, was not ideal. Even worse, these devices generate so much heat that they have a fan which, to cool them, force the resulting hot air downward. And down was where we were trying to play….

The temperature went up a lot, with the equivalent result for the Orchestra and its servant.

We finished the first half of the concert under those conditions and during the interval we tried to fix the problem. It was impossible. The problem exceeded the technical limits of the theater and involved several of the surrounding areas. It was decided to continue the show with the lights we had.

The orchestra played brilliantly even under the harsh lighting conditions. Halfway through the third movement, however, I could feel the eyestrain of the musicians, coupled with the tremendous heat from the lights and knew the conditions were taking their toll. Even I, despite having memorized the work (hence did not have to read the score), had to concentrate hard to beat the involuntary fatigue caused by the heat and lighting. We finished the third movement on pure courage. I paused for a moment and looked at the musicians as if to say “fasten your seatbelts” to endure the last movement and then we started. The end, as those of you who were present know, was tremendous.

Until the next time! A hug, José Cura

The talented and charismatic José Cure led the National Symphony Orchestra last night. “This diving, amazing orchestra with which I have fallen in love in these last three days,” he said at the beginning of the concert. With ease and humor, Cura presented each of the soloists performing fragments of Georges Bizet’s Carmen and introduced to the audient the famous story of Don José, who had just arrived from his tiny village to Seville where he meets the seductive gypsy called Carmen.

The mezzo soprano Guadalupe Barrientos won the audience with her interpretation of Carmen. “She even heated me up,” Cura joked at the end of “Habanera.”

Guadalupe Barrientos with Laura Dominguez and Laura Polverini singing the “Canción Bohemia.” The audience loved each of the offerings from the soloists in the first part of the concert of the National Symphony Orchestra directed by José Cura.

Guadalupe Barrientos gave life to Carmen, “a revolutionary character for her time, “ as defined by José Cure. Barrientos was chosen by the association of music critics as "Best Singer Argentina 2012" and she has performed at the Colón, the Teatro Argentino de La Plata and the Bunkamura Orchard Hall of Tokyo, among other prominent stages.

The baritone Fabián Veloz played the bullfighter Escamillo, who is also in love with the sensual Carmen. Veloz has been positioned as one of the leading figures of his generation in Argentina opera. Currently, he is preparing for his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Tenor Enrique Folger and mezzosoprano Guadalupe Barrientos excited the audience with their presentation of “fleur that your m' avais jetée " ("One of the most beautiful songs that has been written in the opera,” asserted Maestro Cura) and with the dramatic duet that ends the opera.

The soprano Daniela Tabernig in the role of Micaëla, who graduated with honours from the National Conservatory of Athens and the Instituto Superior de art of the Teatro Colón, dazzled with "Je dis that rien ne m' épouvante".

Standing ovation for the National Symphony Orchestra, Maestro José Cura and the soloists Guadalupe Barrientos, Enrique Folger, Daniela Tabernig, Fabián Veloz, Laura Dominguez and Laura Polverini at the end of the first half of the concert.

The National Symphony Orchestra marveled the audience with an excellent performance of the symphony that Dvoràk wrote after being inspired by popular American music.

After the interval, the National Symphony Orchestra played the Symphony No. 9, "From the New World," from Antonín Dvoràk. José Cura, the guest conductor for this unforgettable concert, is a multi-faceted artist, hailed worldwide for his intense and original interpretations as tenor as well as for his innovative concerts.

José Cura salutes the audience, who are standing after a memorable night at the Centro Cultural Kirchner. Honored on June 6 by the Senate of the Nation with the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento award for his achievements in education and culture, Cura will continue his efforts to demonstrate his talents in the most prestigious stages of the world. Thank you, Maestro, for this magnificent concert!