Hallo, Kira and Deb!

We came back yesterday from some days in Prague - it's a wonderful city, but also in cold winter full of tourists. Our main reason was, to see Prague after a decade we had not been here - but the first war naturally: José Cura as Otello. Although we had seen him so many times in this opera (one of his best) - always there are some new gestures, postures and facial expressions - we are sure, he did it not as suggestion of the director!

The photos are with Jago (Richard Haan), Desdemona (Eva Hornyakova) and conductor (Martin Leginus). The most funny is when he throws one of the bouquet of flowers behind to the choir!

Hugz

Eva and Herbert

We travelled to Prague to see José’s Otello in the State Opera. There was full house. It was a difficult production with minimalist, bare staging – only stones were the props – and without too much light on the stage. But José’s unique Otello–dressed in white--shone through it with his enthralling Otello’s portrayal demonstrating his multi-coloured arsenal of the role in both voice and acting.  The Otello -Desdemona duet at the beginning of the 3. act and the ensuing moving solo “Dio mi potevi scagliar” were the highpoints of his performance for me. At one point he used Desdemona’s lying body on the ground to hide behind it when he spied after Cassio. His partners: Eva Hornyáková (Desdemona), Richard Hahn (Jago) and Richard Samek (Cassio) did their best as well as the excellent choir and orchestra (Martin Leginus). Final applause lasted about 9 minutes with standing ovation. --  Zsuzsanna

 

Otello – José Cura at the State Opera for the First time

Harmonie

11 February 2015

Markéta Jůzová

[Excerpts]

The famous Argentine tenor José Cura, after accepting the offer made by National Theater Director Jana Burian and the Director of the National Theater and State Opera House Silvie Hroncove, came to the stage of the State Opera on 29 January 2015 as the star in a production of Verdi’s opera Otello, in a role which the singer has performed in prestigious venues around the world.  

In the opera history of Czech theater, however, the first notable collaborations with the famous singer came earlier in new productions developed by the Theater of South Bohemia in České Budějovice and Český Krumlov International Music Festival.  From 5 thorugh 10 August 2011, Cura portrayed Canio in the Ruggiero Leoncavallo verismo opera, Pagliacci, under the direciton of Josef Průdka at the Revolving Auditorium in Český Krumlov.  The following season he appeared in a production of Otello at the Slovak National Theater in Bratislava under the same director.

And even though Cura had not yet sung opera in our town, the orchestra knew him from an earlier time when he sang Radames in Verdi’s Aida during a 2001 tour through Japan with the Prague State Opera.  This year he joined the production originally staged in 1991 by director Dominik Neuner who works primarily in Germany and conductor Martin Turnovksý.  The work became a hit but in 2009 the opera was restaged by Lubor Cukr and Heiko Mathias Förster.  Cura, while stressing his pleasure at being on the stage of the State Opera, admitted his frustration with the directorial concept of the work. Conductor and Music Director of the State Opera Martin Leginus expressed admiration for Cura’s work and stated that having the famous singer perform brought great benefits to the house.  Both suggested they were open to possible collaboration on other interesting opera projects in the future.

 

José Cura was surrounded by the Czech-Slovak opera team and at the same time exposed to both the professional pressures and minimal rehearsal hours.  In Prague, he admitted that he did not get out of the theater or record a show on DVD before the performance date; he entered into a relationship that was more complex and hectic than before.  For example, prior to the premiere of the Comedians in Český Krumlov he knew a great deal ahead of time about the directorial concept.   The singer knows from joint cooperation that that many of the Czech orchestras are very good; however, the State Opera Orchestra was not an equal partner for Cura, although during the course of the evening and under the leadership of Martin Leginus it was able to play some parts very romantically and impressively. At the level of phrasing, suggestive wording arching across the melodies and dynamism are areas, the players in the orchestra and the conductor could learn from sensitive listening to great singers.  

Cura is famous for his dark tenor voice but in Prague the lyrical passages of the arias were sung in a clear and bright, though muted, voice. In confrontations with Desdemona, the Slovak soprano Eva Hornyákovou, Iago, (Richard Haanem), and Cassio (Richard Samkem), he approached the title role with a great deal of emotion, talent, and a firm grasp of the interior psychology of the character, which was presented on stage with fine facial details and precise gestures that offered clear testimony about the current emotinal state and his relationship to his surroundings.  In front of the audience Cura masterfully, uniquely and, above all, naturally portrayed this complex character and set a high standard of incarnating opera characters for his colleagues.  A huge ovation, with waves of applause and screams of Bravo, rewarded him at the end of the fourth act.

 

The Iconic Otello of José Cura Raised the Ensemble to the Highest Level

Scena

Alena Kunčíková

9 February 2015

[Excerpts]

If you can get a famous singer for a role, one who for eighteen years has been considered the absolute best in the world, it’s a win.  This was confirmed with the production of Verdi’s Otello, who, for the first time in Prague, was the Argentine tenor José Cura.  For the Czechs, it was a musical feast. 

José Cura showed a rich variety and expressiveness in his voice and register as the brave commander, the gentle lover, and the jealous, murdering husband.  In my opinion, he is regarded as number one mainly because of the southern style of “wailing” which is not produced by any central Europeans.  As if the wailing of an old Gypsy violin!  There is nothing like it.

The story of the jealous Moor, Otello, and his innocent wife Desdemona is known to the world through Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello.  The difference in spelling is due to the fact that it is Otello is in Italian—and Verdi was an Italian.

The vast night sky extinguishes all strife,
And my trembling heart is calmed by its embrace.
Let the raging war and the world falls into the abyss,
If, after the immense anger comes this immense love!

The first act closes with the beautiful duet sung by Otello and Desdemona (Slovak soprano Eva Hornyáková).  Cura can express love with gentle touches and gestures, suddenly calming his fiery temperament and turning into a little lamb.  The women in the audience were envious [of Desdemona.]

But in the other acts, when he was attacking as a schizophrenic, morbidly jealous husband, no one envied her.  Cura can hurl fire and lighting with a look.  Even though I was sitting in the balcony, I was happy that he did not turn on me!  Otello is an opera that touches on domestic violence—and demonstrates how even a publicly acclaimed leader can be unjustly cruel to his loving wife.  There is a very strong scene when Otello confronts Desdemona in public—and everyone turns away from her.  No one helps, no one intervenes…as is often true in real life.

Lodovico (Oleg Korotkov), the Venetian ambassador, asks in amazement, “Is this the hero?  Is this the noble, bold warrior?”

But everyone turns away. The ambassador, the Venetian nobleman Rodrigo who claims to love her, Emilia, the entire congregation representing the public, even, eventually, Cassio, the man Desdemona sought to help.  This is a really powerful moment.  Nobody wants to meddle in the marital dispute.  Desdemona is abandoned to the mercy of a madman.

Hornyáková’s big arias at the beginning of the fourth act – the ‘Willow Song’ and ‘Ave Maria’—were deservedly rewarded by applause.  The source of all evil, Iago, a twisted character, was sung by the great baritone soloist of the State Opera, Richard Haan.  Although this was the 41^st reprise of Otello in the SOP, the presence of a world star gave it the aura of exclusivity.  The entire ensemble raised their performance level and showed themselves in the best possible light.  It can be said that everyone—even those ins the smallest of roles, as well as the State Opera Chorus—gave their fullest and best performance.  Conductor and musical director of the SOP Martin Leginus literally glowed.  In a private conversation shortly after Tuesday’s press conference, Leginus confided to me that conducting Cura, who is not only a singer but also a conductor and director, is not easy:  he knows every single note in the score.  That here it worked so well….Congratulations!

Cura also made a nice gesture during the final curtain call when, during the thunderous applause, he stopped to shake hands with Catherine Sokáková (prompter) and gave her one of his flowers in gratitude for her help.  He tossed another bouquet to the women of the State Opera Choir, much like a bride to the bridesmaids.  Who the lucky one was we don’t know—perhaps the ladies divided it among themselves?

Also confirming the the audience was seeing something special was the unusually successful ticket sales: there was no problem filling the last seat in the theater. The public obviously yearns for these types of experiences. The culture of the nation is regressing so tragically, we sometimes think, and then this: the next performance of Otello with Cura on 24 February 2015 is also sold-out.

 

 

Is Cura’s Otello a promise of further cooperation?

Novinky

Radmila Hrdinová

25 February 2015

Twice in one month the Prague National Opera at the State Theater has presented one of the opera world’s biggest names, Argentine tenor José Cura, in the title role of Verdi’s Otello.  First on 29 January and then again on 24 February, each performance was of the greatest interest of the audience. 

Cura appeared in Prague for the first time on an opera stage (rather than on a concert stage) but he has already appeared at the Revolving Theater in Český Krumlov during the summer of 2011 in the role of Canio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and last year appeared in the cathedral in České Budějovice as the author of Stabat Mater when the work had its world premiere with the South Bohemian Opera Orchestra.  He has also performed in concerts in other locations around the Czech Republic. 

Otello is one of Cura’s greatest roles and he has sung it on many stages around the world for almost twenty years.  And as he said in the press conference prior to his first performance, he is still developing the character.

His Otello, as shown in Tuesday’s performance, is a mature man who initially seemed reluctant to believe his luck and during the gentle night scene (act I) with Desdemona it is evident from his words that at that moment he could die happy.  Even with the unexpected change in the tragic love affair with Desdemona unbalancing the man, the depth of his pain was indicated in gesture, facial expression, and especially his voice rather than by wild running around the stage as has become customary.  His killing of Desdemona is the act of a man who has returned from hell with a horrible decision and even though at the moment of execution he is absolutely convinced of its righteousness, he cannot resist affection towards his deeply beloved wife.

At the start of the performance on Tuesday it seemed José Cura was not entirely on form, or that his voice exhibited the strength and brilliance of earlier.  As the performance continued, however, his singing soon convinced that his Otello is still an extraordinary experience. The resonant voice permeated the emotions of the character through more than just excellently sung tones.  Cura is always, in moments of high emotion, willing to sacrifice smooth and flowing sound for persuasive expressiveness, his voice sounding hoarse and strangled with jealousy and rage.  One such impressive moment was when he confronted the dead Desdemona with a bitter awareness of his guilt.

The staging by director Dominik Neuner in 1991 (restored six years ago by Lubor Cukr), has a starkness…and does not provide the characters or relationships with opportunity or inspiration.

[…]

The Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Martin Leginus had some better and worse moments, primarily with the imperfect interplay of the choir and the orchestra.

 Cura had a great success in Prague and it would certainly be beneficial to have him return, especially if he—as he suggested during the press conference—he had the opportunity to stage an original opera production in Prague.

Cura Sings Otello at the State Opera

Hospodářské Noviny

Frank Kuznik

29 January 2015

 

 

 

 

 

The Argentine tenor José Cura couldn’t refuse the challenge: the title role of Verdi’s Otello, which he first undertook in 1997 in Turin.  Claudio Abbado conducted and it was transmitted by Italian TV.  The risk paid off.  The day after the Italian newspaper La Nazione proclaimed:  “A new Otello is born!”  It was this event that started Cura touring the world in the role with which he is most associated with today.  He has sung Otello almost two hundred times.  He will sing it today and again on 24 February as a guest of the Prague State Opera.

Argentinský pěvec José Cura výzvy neodmítá. When speaking of the Moof of Venice, Cura is uncompromising:  “Otello is a noble general but a pathetic antihero,” he said before today’s performance.  “What is heroic about an apostate who, for political reasons, converts to another religion? This is how mercenaries behave. Otello could use his power to free his enslaved brethren.  Instead, he humiliates and ultimately kills his wife.  The character of Iago in fact does not exist, he is simply the dark side of the Moor.”

Today he is considered one of the world’s greatest tenors but in addition to that he is engaged as conductor, director, and photographer.  During the eighteen years he has spent with Otello, Cura has obviously had the opportunity to think about the figure often.  “The great tragedy of extremely complicated characters like Otello is that they never get old.  The more you sing these roles, the more you discover,” he says.  “I wrote about it in a novel, which has not yet come out, and last year I was in Buenos Aires directing the opera.  Now we are editing the film that I recorded there.” 

The local audience who come to hear Cura sing Otello today or next month will have the benefit of those 18 years.  “When I started, I had to paint my hair gray. That problem has fixed itself,” says Cura, whose Otello has evolved physically as well.  “At thirty-five, I had to pretend to be fifty. Today, the pretense has ended.”

Cura has performed several times in the Czech Republic, once when he gave a mixed recital in which he sang during the first half and conducted in the second.  He has also guested several times in opera roles:  four years ago he was applauded at the Revolving Theater in Cesky Krumlov when he sang Canio in Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.  “We negotiated hastily for the State Opera so I could fit only two performances into my schedule.  But I really hope that my cooperation with the National Theater continues and will be followed by other performances which I could either conduct or direct,” he says.

To ‘bounce’ into the position of conductor or director is no guarantee of applause; however, Cura recalls the great tradition of the opera—with Zemlinksy and Szell conducting Strauss for Gigli and Caruso—and hopes the Czech audience will view him similarly. “The Czechs has a reputation for being able to understand completely everything that an artist has to say.  So far I have had good experiences with the Czech audience.”

 

I Am Only Beginning to Discover Otello!

Český rozhlas

Markéta Kaňková

January 29, 2015

 

 

On the stage of the Prague State Opera on 29 January will be one of today’s most sought-after tenors.  Argentine José Cura will perform as Otello in the Giuseppe Verdi opera; it is the role for which he has earned aworld-wide reputation

Verdi’s Otello has played a crucial role in your career and has brought you world fame.  You have been singing the role for more than twenty years.  In just the last two seasons you have been Otello in Buenos Aires, Vienna, and New York City (Met).  Has the role become a bit routine for you?

Absolutely not!  Rather the opposite.  I would say my Otello is only just beginning to emerge.  After twenty years of knocking on his door, he has finally opened the door and let me in.  I am slowly getting into his head, penetrating the finest vibrations of his soul to discover the motivations for his actions.  Also, the context of this drama is incredible, not only Otello but every character in the play is exceptional.  Personally, I am fascinated by how well Verdi hit the drama, how much he tried to understand the the character of Otello and how he was able to show that understanding in his music.  All of this is absolutely clear from his letters.  Verdi created in Otello a fantastic, emotionally profound work that is still a source of inspiration and joy to me even after twenty years.

Otello is perceived primarily as a play about love, jealousy and revenge.  As a Shakespearean tragedy it seems remote from the problems of our contemporary world.  Do you see some parallels in the drama in the present day?  For you, is Otello a modern drama?

Is Otello modern?  I will ask you a few questions, and if the answers are “yes” it will also be the answer. How common is it today for people to cheat and betray us?  To succeed in politics or another career at any price?  Is it modern today for Muslims or members of other faiths to kill in the name of God?  How modern and contemporary is the issue of domestic violence? How often do we hear of dead lovers or mistresses?  And all this is part of Otello. So how modern is Otello?

You have outlined a number of serious problems of today.  Among other things, religious intolerance is perhaps one of the main problems of the contemporary world.  Do you think you can anything about that through art?  Can artists change anything?

I firmly believe that as artists we are ambassadors of beauty.  We have a great responsibility to keep the atmosphere in society at the highest possible level. But it is hard nowadays to convince people of the beauty of opera, ballet, or painting when in the news the day after visiting a theater or gallery we read that three fools broke into a newsroom and killed all the journalists.  Or that a girl of twelve hid a bomb under her dress, went to a supermarket and exploded it and killed two hundred people.  I think that under the circumstances, we have an obligation in spite of everything to keep creating and making art, but we have to stop thinking that we artists are the center of the world.

I am often asked the question if I’m worried about the future of opera and classical art.  It is a question that is irrelevant.  If we continue doing what we are doing what we are doing now—hating, killing, making war—then no one is going to make time to go to the theater or have an interest in art. So the answer is clear: let’s make art something that is not outside reality, but a part of it. Then we have a chance to change something.

Let’s talk for a moment about you as a theater performer. You are not only an opera singer but also a showman who seems to take—regardless of the role you sing—enormous pleasure from contact with the audience.  Is that the main reason you go on stage, to communicate with people, to transfer energy through music?

About twenty years ago an American magazine wrote about me that Mr Cura should realize that art was not invented for his pleasure. It was after a concert that I very much enjoyed. And I passed my own pleasure along to the audience.  That critic might believe I should speak with the face of someone who has just returned from a cemetery, with a straight face and tortured soul.  But this is a huge mistake. I think that the artist should have joy in his work and thank God for it.  He should do what he can to transmit positive energy to the audience.  And this is what I am trying to do through music and what I definitely want to keep doing.

We have the great opportunity to see you in the role of Otello on the stage of the Prague State Opera.  You have mentioned you would like to return to Prague again in the future.  In what form, what performance, what role?

It honestly does not matter to me.  I received an invitation to the State Opera and any further cooperation depends on the management of the theater. I sincerely regret that we have just two days for Otello rehearsals.  In two days, you can only soak up the possibilities, the potential of people and places, but you can’t develop it.  In any case, I am excited to be at the Prague State Opera.  Artistic director and conductor Martin Leginus is a professional, I collaborate well with the Czech soloists and chorus, there is a good working atmosphere.  Because of all this, I would like to come back to Prague.

Can you be more specific?  We know you not just as a singer but also as a conductor and opera director.  It would be great if you did a project in Prague where you could be a figure in all these roles. 

I’d hate to be guilty of any incorrectness, but that is exactly what I would like.  Of course, it would be great if I could come to Prague next time just as a singer but I would like to work with the local musicians and all the artistic components of the State Opera as a conductor, as a director, as an artist.  It would please me greatly to do a complex artistic project in Prague.  But who knows?  We will see!

 

Q: What are your compositional plans?

None at the moment, in the sense of new creations. But the premiere of Stabat Mater has awakened the “sleeping beast” so now I am slowly recovering all my previous compositions in order to have them ready for playing. We’ll see what comes up...

Q: On January and on February you will sing Otello in Prague. Since 1997 you externalize this role in great opera houses around the world, for example in Barcelona, Bratislava, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Madrid, Milano, Munich, New York, Nice, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Warsaw, Washington, Zürich. You know many productions of this opera by Giuseppe Verdi. Which of them were for you very interesting and why?

Each production has given me lots of experiences. But it was not until I did my own one in the Teatro Colón in 2013 that I could finally put on stage everything I wanted to show with Otello. A film will be ready soon.

Q: How do you remember your role debut of Otello at Turin ́s Teatro Regio?

Dangerous... Very. Very few rehearsals: two with the orchestra and before, only a week for the staging, and one of the biggest media exposure I had ever had in my career due to the ingredients involved: the Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, Ruggero Raimondi, Barbara Frittoli, Ermanno Olmi, RAI TV... A daring step indeed. History can say many things about me. It will always be a point of view. But nobody will ever be able to say I had no guts!

Q:  Last season I saw your performance of Verdi's Otello at the Vienna State Opera. You externalize this role very deeply and strongly. In the best sense of the words your voice is as speech and your expression very natural. Thanks to you, Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Jago), Anja Harteros (Desdemona) and director Christine Mielitz in Vienna I had the greatest experience of my life ...

I have been fighting against the preconceptions of Otello’s interpretation since the very beginning. It takes a lot of risk to fight against the traditionally “tenorile” approach of the part in order to do a real Shakespearean impersonation of the role, basing your work on Verdi’s music and letters. My evolution in reading what is implied in Verdi’s score is not finished yet. I am on it and I hope I will be able to achieve it before I quit singing. The fight will be long. I still remember a critic in the old fashioned New York’s operatic establishment saying: “This damned habit Cura has of always doing what he wants and not what he is expected to do...”. Poor guy... I love it!

Q: How do you make the singers understand a character?

Only by understanding it yourself in depth before you even start to talk about it with them. You can later change your mind under the light of work and development, also after having exchanged ideas with your artists, but to even think about beginning rehearsals without knowing by memory both text, subtext and music, is something that never crosses my mind. I have suffered too many of “those” directors not to be afraid of becoming like them...

Q: Do you train your singing every day?

No, I don’t train everyday. The voice is flesh, muscles, blood, bones, etc. It needs to rest as any other part of the body does. My singing voice is the result of more than 30 years of hard work. You may like or dislike my technique, but denying its existence, as some people do, is stupid.  How could I survive such a long career, singing the toughest roles of the repertoire, without knowing what I am doing?

Q: Who is your best critic?

My best critics are my family, my secretary, my assistant, people that will not hesitate to tell me not only the good I am doing, but mainly the bad. They all have a specific “order”: To kick my ... when I am not right!

Q: How do you feel about having a performance at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, at the Vienna State Opera or Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires?

The same I feel when I have a performance in Liege, České Budějovice, Bratislava or Prague. To pretend that only certain places have the right “pedigree” is snobbish and silly. You can do very good or very bad music wherever. From the MET to the smallest school auditorium.

Q: Why did you choose to be an opera stage director? How did this start and what was the turning point that made you decide on it?

In 2006 Rijeka’s opera house wanted to do a different show and I was invited to do whatever experiment I wanted. It was then that my show La commedia è finita was born. The experience was so rewarding and such a great way of amplifying the revolution we were talking about before that I immediately started to invest my energy in finding more and more production work to do. As a result of it, after directing Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Köln opera house in 2008, I did a new production of Samson et Dalila in Karlsruhe (2010) that established what has become my style of directing and designing since then: modern, refreshing but intellectually honest. You can find Samson on DVD and see what I mean.

Q: Following Saint-Saëns ́s Samson et Dalila at the Badisches Staatstheater in which you also sang the title role, cames Puccini ́s La Rondine at the Opéra National de Lorraine, in which you also conducted, and Leoncavallo ́s Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie and this year you will direct Puccini ́s La bohème at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. Why did you decided on these operas?

I didn't choose the titles but I was invited to do them. I will never say THANK YOU enough to these theaters that trusted in me at the beginning of my directing career. I was invited by the Royal Swedish Opera to stage it. A big honor and a great chance to try to do something new with such an over-performed but beautiful opera. Now, invitations are coming, but it needs a lot of “vision” to anticipate what may after become obvious.

Q: Which operas would you like to direct or to conduct?

All of them in which the libretto is good enough to create a good show. I hate operas where the text is so bad that you have the impression that it is only there as an excuse for the music to exist...

Q: Which way do you want to expand your repertoire in opera on the level singing and in classical music on the level conducting?

On the singing side, I am aiming to Tannhäuser and Peter Grimes. On the conducting side, having not dedicated my last 25 years exclusively to conducting, I have such a lot of music I would love to do that the list would be too long to quote.

Q: Do you like more concerts in houses or open-air concerts?

I like good concerts...

Q: Do you like Czech music?

A lot! One of my dearest records is Dvořák’s Love Songs. A recording I remember as one of the most difficult of my career.

Q: What do you do when you are nervous? How do you overcome that?

The only way to overcome nerves is preparation: study, rehearse, study, work, study, research, study, insist, study...

Q: Could you describe your firm Cuibar Production?

Cuibar is my production company. A brand created to back up my work in all senses: productions, recordings, editorial.

Q: What other genres of music do you like or inspire you?

Any gender of music that is dramatically sincere. I hate artistic hypocrisy...

 

 

 

José Cura:  Without Prague my Artistic Pedigree in Not Complete

 

Ceskatelevize

29 January 2015

Prague – One of the today’s most sought after tenors, Argentine José Cura, spoke Thursday evening at the Prague State Opera.  He was introduced as the singer in the title role of Verdi’s Otello, a role he first sang when he was 34.  “It took me twenty years to really understand this character, to figure out the drama,” said Cura.

 “For me, it is very important that I can finally sing for the first time in Prague at the State Opera.  It is inconceivable that I sang in almost all the theaters in the world and never in Prague. My artistic pedigree was not complete.  I needed it.  I needed to be in Prague and I am really enjoying every minute of this job,” he said.

Otello is like a marathon

According to Cura, Otello is a highly complicated masterpiece that is also essentially a modern work.  The violent and frustrating story is a picture of the contemporary world, which is in great moral crisis:  “I don’t like the story but that is what it tells you.  It is a story of betrayal, jealousy, soldiering, apostasy, about a lot of the negative elements that Shakespeare used to denounced them.  In this sense, the opera, or better, the drama, is always current.”

Otello is also a very challenging musically. “It’s like you run a marathon.  The best marathon runners are not the youngest but most experienced.  Because they know how to handle those forty-two kilometers.  If you run the first two kilometers at full throttle, you are not going to make it to the second half.  In Otello, it is the same.  You have to cleverly pace the tempo to master this very difficult role until the end,” said the renowned tenor. .

A second performance will be held on February 24.  Cura believes that his work with the State Opera will not end there:  after the reconstruction in 2016 he would like to be involve with the staging of a work worthy its history and fame.