As I sat down to write this report, I remembered an old
industry joke: there is no art in playing when the instrument is in
tune. I added something of my own: there is an art in playing
when nothing is in tune.
A concert took place in Zabrze on Saturday, 22 November,
a concert that had a good chance to be one of the most significant
artistic events in Poland. It was not that until the end.
José Cura, returning to Poland after a long absence,
arrived onstage in the Domu Muzyki i Tańca in Zabrze showing great
artistic form. The concert began with the prologue from Leoncavallo’s
Pagliacci. Cura entered the hall through the auditorium,
greeting the audience, shaking hands, bowing, all while singing this
difficult number. By the end he had managed to make it to the stage,
where he greeted all with great affection, enthusiastically shouting in
Polish, "Dobry wieczór Polska, dobry wieczór
orkiestra, dobry wieczór maestro” ("Good
evening, Poland, good evening, orchestra, good evening, maestro")
– here he bowed in the direction of the second
conductor who led the orchestra during the arias sung by José Cura. The
Cracow Event Orchestra is an ensemble made up of young musicians. José
Cura described them as TOP MODELS. Of course the audience bought it
immediately, retuning his affection with thunderous applause.
The young soprano Agnieszka Kozlowska from the Warsaw
Chamber Opera and tenor Boguslaw Morka were Cura’s guests. A bravura
performance of “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca triggered
another storm of applause but it is worth noting here the involvement of
José Cura in conducting. Watching him lead
the group
I had the impression that the tenor flowed with them in
the beauty of the music. In fact, Cura gave more of himself as a
conductor than as a singer, though every time he stood in front of a
microphone he confirmed his great vocal state. During the second half
of the concert he sang several arias and songs while simultaneously
conducting the orchestra.
At some point, the audience developed the impression that
Cura was treating the concert quite informally. Every now and then I
noted a change in the order of the numbers but Maestro joked with the
audience and the atmosphere remained relaxed; however, it raised
concerns that the concert was not quite polished. This was confirmed at
the end of the first half, when Cura wanted to conduct the next aria and
called Boguslawa Morke to the stage only to find that the orchestra did
not have the music on their stands. Cura fixed a smile on his face and
said, “We have a small logistical problem.” When someone from the
orchestra told him there was a planned break at that point Cura jokingly
took his baton in hand and pointed toward the door. In this way he
invited the audience to intermission.
The second half of the program included Neapolitan and
Spanish songs. What happened after the intermission, however, confirmed
the conjectures in the auditorium. Cura returned to the stage appearing
somewhat uneasy and immediately began conducting the next number. When
Agnieszka Kozlowska arrived to start the subsequent aria, José Cura
stepped from the podium to ask her to translate his words. In English,
he said that the audience might think that the artists on stage did not
know what they doing, because they were constantly changing the order of
the arias and rearranging the sheet music. He wanted the critics to
understand that the organizers were responsible because they had not
provided the partitures
on time so that it had been impossible to properly prepare for the
concert. Naturally, this sincere confession won over the audience, who
offered thunderous applause to the artists who were doing their best to
save the concert.
The atmosphere cleared, one could tell immediately in the
way the orchestra was conducted. Cura began to joke again and to flirt
with the concert mistress as well as the first violinist, causing the
audience to laugh.
The
concert ended, although it could have been better and with the high
ticket prices (145-299 PLN) the audience expected much more than they
received. In spite of everything it was a high-end concert thanks to
José Cura’s great sense of humor and his strong will which, along with
the orchestra and the soloists, saved the concert.
The program was rich and diverse: first were well-known
fragments of operas like the “Libiamo” from Giuseppe Verdi’s La
traviata, the Aria of Cavaradossi from Giacomo Puccini’s
Tosca and "Je veux vivre" from Charles Gounod's Romeo et
Juliette; after that came famous operetta songs such as “Meine
Lippen sie küssen so heiss" from Franz Lehar's Giuditta
and Neapolitan and Latin favorites including, among others, “O sole mio”,
“Besame mucho”, “Amigos para siempre” and “La spagnola”.
The orchestra also played the overture to Verdi’s opera
La forze del destino and “Tangazo” by Astor Piazzola.
According to Cura, this was the Polish premiere of the symphonic
version of Piazzola’s work. The concert ended with a long standing
ovation that made clear the audience did not want the artists to leave
the stage and providing evidence that they had saved this beautiful
event, in spite of the organizational problems.
The main concern was the nonchalance and lack of
competence of the organizers. It is, however, necessary to mention that
the promoter was MONOLIT, a company that has extensive experience in
coordinating such events.
We saw a half-empty auditorium and yet with good
advertising a name like José Cura—one of the best singers in the world
and easily compared to Domingo or Carreras—should easily have filled the
Domu Muzyki i Tańca in Zabrze. Equally as embarrassing was the fact
that Cura’s microphone had to be replaced just before the encore. Was
it really a problem to replace old batteries with new ones before the
concerts? Many oversights such as this threw a shadow over an otherwise
delightful concert.
One this is certain: José Cura confirmed that he is a
great artist and succeeded in creating such a relaxed atmosphere for
both orchestra and audience through his personality that he proved you
can be a big star despite difficult circumstances. But it must be
remember that a classical music concert has to be perfectly planned and
implemented. That’s why the organizers need to be reprimanded for their
negligence of simple but important issues.
Another important fact was that from the beginning the concert seemed
not fully thought through by the organizers. Originally, it was
intended to take place in June at the Forest Opera in Sopot;
however,--as we can read on the Monolit site—it had to be cancelled due
to the fault of the promoter. It was only through the understanding of
José Cura that they managed to find another time and venue in November.
On
Sunday [following the performance] José Cura added an entry to his
official Facebook profile in which he described the events in Zabrze: “A
very traumatic experience that has ended in a good way thanks to my nice
colleagues, Boguslaw and Agneska, and to the beautiful and super
professional musicians of the orchestra that was put together for the
occasion.... I was supposed to sing [several other arias including]
Nessun dorma also, and I could not sing them...”due to oversights from
the organizers.
As stated in his Facebook post, he had to improvise the
whole concert and was not able to provide the audience with printed
programs—from the beginning that appeared to be strange. Today we know
why it was so.
If an artist of the class of José Cura is treated like
this, it should not be a surprise if some will avoid our country, not
wanting to expose themselves to the risks of embarrassment or the
necessity of interrupting the gig at the last minute—or during it.
I will
be sad to think how this evening by one of the greatest tenors in the
world will be remembered. It is a great shame for the promoters.
Still, to Maestro José Cura: thank you for this musical feast.
With mixed feeling… Rev. Adrian Nowak
Check out José Cura’s comments
on his Facebook….
