|
|
|
|
|
Articles & Interviews 2001 |
|
|
[Articles 2007] [Articles 2006] [Articles 2005] [Articles 2004] [Articles 2003] [Articles 2002] [Articles 2001] [Articles 2000] [Articles 1999] [Articles 1998] [Articles 1997] [Articles (Early)]
A thrilling voice and charisma to burn
Argentinian tenor Jose Cura is a controversial figure and a supercharged performer. He tells Paul Gent what makes him such a risk-taker
Daily Telegraph (London, England)
4/16/2001
Paul Gent
"I am a daring artist!" declares Jose Cura. He says it with a straight face, and I manage to keep mine straight too. Cura, an Argentinian, doesn't feel the Anglo-Saxon need to play down his achievements - and why should he? He has the world at his feet.
It wasn't long ago that Cura and his great tenor rival, Roberto Alagna, were described as waiting in the wings, about to take over from the famous trio of Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras. Well, now it has happened. Without fanfare, the baton has been passed.
In a world short of big tenor voices, Cura has become the first choice of any major opera house trying to cast Otello, Manon Lescaut, Il trovatore, indeed almost any 19th-century Italian opera. In the seven years since he won Placido Domingo's Operalia competition, he has gone from being an unknown to an operatic superstar whose name sells CDs, whose face provokes the sighs of a devoted fan club, whose voice fills stadiums.
If you were building yourself a tenor, the chances are that you would come up with something very like the 38-year-old Cura - charm and charisma to burn, a thrilling voice with a dark centre, and an athletic build, honed by martial arts.
"At last a real Otello," said the Italian daily paper La Nazione. "He has a communicative ability and personality that enables one to predict with ease a long and great career for him."
That might be enough for most people. But Cura also composes and conducts; in fact he has been conducting far longer than he has been singing, and he was recently appointed conductor of the Sinfonia Warszawa, taking over from the late Yehudi Menuhin.
So why, with all this going for him, is he so sensitive to criticism? Though he claims not to get upset by what reviewers say - "I'm past those years, I'm getting old" - he returns to the subject again and again, like someone picking at a wound that won't heal. He reveals a disturbing familiarity with everything that has been written about him, and even the names of the writers. He details the accusations with an air of baffled hurt, as if he can't understand why anyone should be so cruel.
"It doesn't make me angry, it makes me sad. When I am criticised as a result of my professional performance, that is OK. But when half the review is about the way I dress, the way I walk, the way I move my hands, that is completely wrong."
Cura is something of a throwback to an earlier, less purist generation of tenors, which has led to accusations of over-emoting, of introducing "sobs" at moments of high passion that disturb the musical line. He says that he is serving the drama, but his critics say that the drama is serving him, that he lets his ego get in the way of the music.
He's certainly a restless experimenter, constantly looking for new ways of presenting concerts - talking to the audience, abandoning formal dress, entering while singing. The experiments don't always come off. Notoriously, a couple of years ago he tried conducting the Philharmonia while facing the audience and singing, with the result that he looked, in the words of one reviewer, like "a large bird attempting to achieve flight".
Cura admits that this is one experiment he is unlikely to repeat, but vigorously defends his approach. "I am not so arrogant that I will do it on purpose, just for the sake of breaking everybody's patience. You do it to tease yourself, to provoke yourself, to investigate, to try different things, to maybe find a new language, a new formula.
"If you read human history, you will find out that every time somebody took those risks, something happened afterwards that moved to another thing and another thing. I am that kind of artist."
Controversial exploits such as singing an entire aria lying down earned him boos when he sang La Gioconda at La Scala in Milan.
"But what looks like a risk for the audience, because it's the first time they see it, is a studied risk for the artist on stage. You never do on stage what you didn't try before. One thing is to take risks, another to be stupid."
A tenor's ego is to some extent an essential part of his make-up, a piece of protective armour. Self-doubt would be crippling in a creature who has to shoulder the burden of an opera in front of thousands of people and fling out those high Bs and Cs.
"If you don't enjoy the fact of knowing that you are being observed then you go home," says Cura. "You should have a healthy, well-controlled vanity. Because if not, what the hell are you doing there? Either you die of fear, or you faint in the middle of the stage, or you just don't do the job."
Now Cura is coming to the Royal Opera House, where from Thursday he will be taking the lead role in Otello, one of the vocal and dramatic summits of the repertoire. He has sung Otello in London once before, in a supercharged concert performance two years ago with the London Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis, but he says his interpretation has developed since then.
"It's changing every day. The real challenge of Otello, apart from the singing, is the character. I try to use my voice not only as a singer but as an actor, and to create `suffocated' colours in the voice, because that creates the mood of the character in that moment."
The performance on May 3 will be this year's Opera in the Piazza presentation, where the production is shown live on a giant screen outside in the Covent Garden market, preceded by specially recorded interviews. Anything that broadens the appeal of opera and classical music, Cura says, is worthwhile.
"What is it to be a servant of the music if it is not to make everybody understand that this music is as great, as fun, as any other kind of music? If we don't, for sure in 20 years we have to close every theatre."
Opera singer José Cura quizzed
18 April 2001
Opera may have a hard time convincing people that it is open to everyone.The Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden is doing its best to bring in new audiences, with a policy of cheaper seats and matinee performances.
Argentinean singer José Cura - dubbed the "fourth tenor" - is also helping opera's image. He believes that the challenge of opera is keeping it alive and spontaneous.
Cura is not your average opera singer. He has a black belt in Kung-fu and is a body builder. He insists that he is a actor who sings, and not "a singer who pretends to act".
Does he believe that opera is open to all people of all ages? How does he keep his performances fresh and exciting? What inspires him? What would he like to achieve?
José Cura joined us for a forum on Tuesday and answered a selection of your questions. You can see him in Otello at the Royal Opera House from next week.
Highlights of interview
Anushree Mazumdar, Kolkata, India:
Which is your favourite opera?The only way to give an answer as to which is my favourite opera is that at this point, thank God, I am only singing the operas that I really love. So you can very easily say that my favourite opera is the opera that I am singing that evening.
Newshost:
So presumably next week's favourite opera is Othello?José Cura:
Exactly.Graham Bancroft, Ifrane, Morocco:
Although it is commendable (and expected) of you to sing roles from the nineteenth century Italian repertory in operas that every aspiring music lover needs absolutely to see (and hear!), do you have ambitions to learn parts from operas by 20th century composers such as Berg, Britten etc?José Cura:
It is a valid question however, is not as easy as one would think.For marketing reasons, there are certain operas that are always in demand and because of the kind of singer I am, I am always asked to do those operas. That does not mean that I am not curious about other operas, mainly because I am a musician and I am very interested in Berg and Britten and other great composers of our century.
But it here that we need the help of the audiences and not only the criterion of the artistic directors of the opera. The problem is that when we do those operas it is not easy to achieve a sell-out and therefore pay the bills. So it is good to want to achieve the modern repertoire but to do this we seriously need the help of the audience. There is no point in staging a modern opera if nobody is going to come to see it.
Newshost::
Apart from the audience, Graham was wondering if you think that there is anything that the singer can do to make a modern work, in particular, more accessible?José Cura:
It is the same thing you do to make an old work accessible. That is to be committed and true to your emotions and not as a lot of people want me to be - but will never get it - so ascetic and dry in my interpretation that you never come close to the real character. You will have beautiful notes but without the meaning of what the character is going through. Just imagine for a moment that you go to a theatre to see an actor and you only have the declamation of the text without having the feelings of the actor. So the same goes for opera.Newshost::
So it is about making a credible character on stage telling a story?José Cura:
It is exactly that. For example, I don't see how you can be on stage at the end of Othello after having killed your lover and dying yourself without sobbing. Would you in a real-life situation go through that without sobbing - no - so why hide your real emotions. Of course this has to be done with a measure of good taste but emotions should go out to the audiences - that is the only way to keep opera going.Lao Zi, London, UK:
Does Kung-fu help in your singing (and acting) or is it just an interest of yours?José Cura:
Yes, I have a black-belt in Kung-fu and it is something that I am interested in but it is part of the past. However, what is good about this - apart from the colour of the belt - is the discipline of it. With marshal arts or yoga, ballet etc. whatever you have done, gives you the discipline and control over your own body in a way that when you are on stage you can almost make your body work the way you want it to - there a limitations of course - but you know that you can do certain movements and not just produce nice notes.If you are a good cinema actor you have to be a complete package - poise, looks etc. but the same doesn't apply to opera - you can let yourself go and see your weight go up to 200 kilos and nobody will complain because you are an opera singer. This is not good - if you are fat because you are fat then there is nothing you can do about it - I am lucky, I am not fat - but to use your art as an alibi and not to take care of your body is another thing.
Newshost:
Those are strong words - I imagine you get into trouble sometimes for speaking in those terms.José Cura:
Of course. But I repeat, I am not criticising the way someone looks on stage - what I am criticising is when someone uses their job as an alibi - which is a completely different thing.Ellie, New York, USA:
Do you feel the Three Tenors have helped opera and do you agree with a lot of critics that they should retire and allow the new generation to be heard?José Cura:
These three legends were great for a certain moment in opera. These three tenors - they are known as the Three Tenors because of this time in the 1990s with the football etc. - but they are not the only tenors. In their generation there are plenty of great tenors as there are plenty of great tenors in my generation. The fact that someone does not appear in the media - this does not mean that we have only three tenors - there are plenty of us.These three masters of our art witnessed the great change in the music market - with CDs, digital recording etc. - so their contribution in terms of image of what opera now is in this new century, was crucial.
As regards the second part of the question about young opera singers, again we need the audiences to give us help with this. When these three tenors were young that had to face comparison with the previous generation and perhaps hearing that they were not as good as the previous generation. Being young, we too have to suffer these comparisons as they did when they were young and so it continues down the generations. What we would ask is for some objectivity in this and to give the young the time to grow and develop without giving undue criticism.
Josephine Ducros, Paris, France:
I recently had a pleasure to listen to Mr Cura performance of Otello in Paris and I was amazed by the emotional expression and intensity in his singing, which he always had, but never that strong, also not in his recordings. I would like to ask what is the source of this "emotional evolution"?José Cura:
Thank you Josephine. That comment "heals the heart" because after my performance of Othello in Paris - where there were comments such as "It was so disappointing to see somebody who was not Othello to be hailed as Othello" - so thank you very much for those kind words.As you start to get more experience, you learn how to pass on your emotions. It is like everything in life - when you are young you think you are being intense and strong just because you are shouting and then you learn that intensity is not about the amount of noise you produce but about the amount of energy you can move around. So maybe this is the secret of this "emotional evolution".
David, Cardiff, Wales:
Do audiences in different countries respond to opera in different ways?José Cura:
I say this with due respect - an audience under normal circumstances gets from an artist the performance they deserve. It is not only what the artist can do on the night that is under judgement. The other side to the equation is the audience. If you are on stage and the audience is not giving love to you then you are not giving back love to the audience. So this is why I say in an evening an audience has the performance they deserve in a sense that if the artist feels the energy and the love and the engagement of the audience then he is ready to give his blood for that audience.Robert del Valle, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA:
If you could get on stage with a cast of your own choosing - a dream cast, who would you choose?José Cura:
That is a dangerous question! I don't think I will name names as this is not gracious. So I would say that whoever is in front of me - the thing I would ask of them is the same amount of commitment of energy and love that I am sending to him or her, to receive that back. If you can achieve that then it not important - the name or the amount of hype about the person who is in front of you - it is not about that. The key thing of all that we have talked about - and I would thank Josephine for her great question - is the emotional aspect - that is the key at least for me in terms of my way of seeing art.
Candid Cura
P. O’Connor
About the House
Spring 2001
'There are people who have been disappointed that I don't use more of a big sound in this part, but that is simply not what Otello is about....' Patrick O'Connor discovers that there's more to José Cura than meets the ear.
‘I jumped on the stage when I was 12 years old. That was 25 years ago. I’ve worked on the lighting, on every job you can do, cleaning the stage, conducting, singing. What I can do, what I cannot do, I have learned.’
Offstage José Cura is not much like the fiery characters he
impersonates. He is a man with a voluble conversational manner,
peppered with humorous asides.
Since
his Royal Opera debut in 1995, he has become a favourite with London
opera and concert audiences. It was that first London season, when he
sang the title-role in Verdi’s Stiffelio, that led to his first
Otello. ‘After my debut, more than one reviewer wrote “Here is a
potential Otello” or words to that effect. Almost immediately I started
to get offers to sing Otello. It’s not the sort of thing you do without
a bit of soul-searching and preparation. I bought the score. I started
to learn it and eventually I accepted an offer to sing it in concert
with Sir Colin Davis, for the Barbican in 1999. That was meant to have
been my first one.’
Fate
stepped in, though, in 1997 when Placido Domingo was engaged to sing the
opera in Turin, with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio
Abbado. ‘For one reason or another, I don’t know, Placido had to cancel
the dates. But this was a very big event, the Berliners coming to
Torino for the first time, so they wanted somehow to make a lot of it.
They asked me if I could do it. Maybe they thought my debut would add
an extra ingredient. I didn’t think I was ready. I was 34, so I talked
to myself, what shall I do? Take a risk. As you know it paid off and
once again the fax machines started pouring out offers for me to sing
the part.’ The next time he sang it was for a triumphant return to his
native Argentina, to sing at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires.
The
planned concert with the LSO and Colin Davis duly took place, and now
comes Cura’s first Royal Opera Otello. ‘Now I am beginning to
have my Otello. I particularly did not want to imitate singers of the
past who had done it this way or that way. There are people who have
been disappointed that I don’t use more of a big sound in this part, but
that is simply not what Otello is about. You just have to look at the
score. Verdi’s markings are very precise. It’s not right to shout it.
You know me; you know that I can make a big noise when it’s required.
But not here.’
Cura
points to the Act II ‘Ora e per sempre.’ ‘Verdi has marked this in one
place piano-pianissimo. At this moment Otello isn’t singing for the
population; this is an intense, inner moment. I compare it with the
beginning of Samson’s aria in the last act of Samson et Dalila,
when he is chained to the millstone. Here he sings just for himself and
God, no one else. Otello is the same in Act II, and let me tell you any
singer has to be careful in that scene if he doesn’t want to burn
himself out.’
Cura
expands on his view of the character. He points to the cello solo and
then the cello quartet before the love duet at the end of Act I. ‘Verdi
gives the singer this moment’s repose to make the shift from the anger
that precedes it to his tenderness with Desdemona. But you have to
understand that he uses the angry expression to control those around
him. If you like, it’s as if he were a father who tells off a child.
But then turns straight away with a smile to his wife. He is a warrior,
a general, he is naturally in command.’
It
has often been pointed out that Verdi uses a quotation from Wagner at
the beginning of Act II, in the orchestral introduction to Iago’s
credo. ‘Yes, perhaps. But I don’t think Otello, any more than
Don Carlos, is Wagnerian except that Verdi – like any great
artist – was acutely aware of what was happening around him, of course
not just in music.’
In
Shakespeare’s time, the relationship between Desdemona and Othello
wasn’t so difficult to understand: a woman was considered her husband’s
property. How does this need to be conveyed to a modern audience? ‘No,
no, if you reduce Othello to some kind of love story about a lost
handkerchief, it’s dead. Shakespeare and then Verdi and Boito are
dealing with much greater issues, the story is their vehicle. It’s
about love, honour, race, politics, class. You know, of course, that
Shakespeare didn’t invent the story. It’s based on an Italian source,
in which Othello is not even black, you know. Shakespeare put that in,
that’s his genius. A black general in the Venice of that time would
have been unthinkable.’
For
every role, Cura likes to go beyond the opera, to look at the character
in depth. Take Alfredo in La Traviata, which he sang recently in
the live telecast from Paris. ‘People sometimes present Alfredo as this
simple country boy. Impossible. He is a guest in the house of this
woman, who knows all the most powerful people in Paris. He challenges
her protector to a duel, he persuades her to leave her wealth, her
friends. He has to be a very strong character to do all that, he can’t
be anaemic.’
When
I was talking to him, Cura was between rehearsals for a new production
of Don Carlo in Zurich. ‘Carlo is a real hero, but not like the
others. He is a dreamer and idealist, he challenges the Inquisition.’
What about Radames in Aida, which Cura took on for a production
in Tokyo, directed by Franco Zeffierelli? ‘You only have to look around
and you can see Radames today. He’s a schemer, out for what he can get;
he’s using Amneris to further his career. Only in Act IV, when he is in
prison, then he becomes more sympathetic.’
The
most controversial part of Cura’s career has been the concerts and
recordings where he has conducted the orchestra himself, while singing.
‘It was something I wanted to try. We all need to experiment. Maybe I
won’t do it again. But what I hate is all that nonsense that surrounds
the one word – tenor. People use it to create a sort of
sensational fantasy. If you’re a pianist you’re just a pianist, a
violinist just that. But because you sing in the tenor register,
suddenly you become this creature – The Tenor. I’m a composer
and a conductor. But when I do those things, there is this suspicion,
“Oh, but he’s a tenor”. But I don’t care to be put in that particular
box.’
If
you want to hear some of Cura’s compositions, you can sample them on one
of his most beautiful CDs, Anhelo, a collection of Argentinian
songs. Two of his songs are settings of poems by Pablo Neruda, one of
which contains the line ‘I want what I love to remain living, and I
loved you and made you my song’. As for conducting, he has just been
appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the Sinfonia Warszawa. But to
escape the traditional role in which he sees himself being cast by
commentators, Cura has two new schemes. For 20 years he has been taking
photographs, and now he is planning to publish a volume of them. 'I
know, they'll say "aha! The photographs by the tenor”. But I don’t
mind, so long as people look at them with their eyes open.’
The
other new idea has just been suggested to him in Zurich. A theatre
company has invited him to make guest appearances in dramatic roles.
‘We’re just talking, but it’s an idea I adore. Maybe a role in Gogol,
Chekhov or Tennessee Williams.’ Cura as Stanley in Streetcar?
It doesn’t take much imagination to visualize it.
The Heart of a Tenor
A reminder of how special José Cura is... from 2001
excerpts from Warsaw Voice
The Bonum Foundation and Siwiec Art company are the organizers of charity meetings from the I Have Eaten With . . . series. Famous people from the world of politics, movie, music, painting and sport are invited for Thursday dinners to the Serafino restaurant owned by the Foundation.
Anyone can dine with the chosen star as long as they reserve a table in Serafino beforehand. The restaurant donates all the profit from dinners to charity. A symbolic zl.5 added to the bill in a direct contribution to the charity campaign made by each participant in the evening meal.
World famous Argentinean tenor José Cura, the guest of the latest meeting which took place Nov. 22, was flooded with questions by other guests. Cura proved himself to be an outstanding storyteller. He revealed that he began singing late in life but was already conducting in high school. Cura told guests that conducting is his real calling while singing is only a means of earning money. He also shared his fears concerning the future of the opera stage. "I hope I'm wrong but I might belong to the last generation of traditional operatic performers," said Cura. "I don't know the formula for the new generation. Many record companies are shutting down or are now promoting mostly second-class products to survive. Private sponsors, on which the opera is based, have less and less money."
The father of three children, Cura eagerly took part in raising money for the youngest beneficiaries of the Foundation. Asked to perform, he initiated a money collection and was the first person to put a banknote in the basket. Only when the basket became full did he perform a mini-recital with a guitar.
After the performance , everyone was offered the chance to take a photo with the star for a symbolic contribution to charity.
José Cura Interview
C. Pate
2001
"I came here at nine in the morning, then I have rehearsals, interviews, discussions, corrections, I still have another journalist to go, I have then to go back to my hotel where I am doing another interview - so maybe at nine this evening I can finally have a break to have something to eat."
It's true that Cura's appearance as Otello at this venue has long
been anticipated, and audiences as well as the press will be expecting
something special. On the retail side of things, Cura's discs have sold
extremely well, and, since his professional debut in the mid-'90s,
comparisons have been made with some of the most legendary tenors of all
time. In spite of his 'star' status, however, Cura is keen to point out
that he's doing this for purely artistic reasons. "I think that if
theatre is to work then there has to be an explicit awareness of the
boundaries between stage and audience and the ways in which this can be
played with. In this type of work, it's as if the audience are just
opening a little window and peeping in on the action. The moment the
audience feels you are working it for them, the magic goes. Sometimes I
have been criticised because I have not stood and sung my aria at the
front of the stage for the audience, and I'm furious at this. Yes of
course, you pay for your ticket so I'm singing for you, but my character certainly isn't - he doesn't even know he's being
watched!"
As
he's talking, it's not difficult to see why so many people have
commented on the man's commanding physical presence. I suspect it might
not be good idea to be on the wrong side of that dangerous flash in his
eyes, and those gesticulations (which nevertheless betray something of
the conductor in him) would certainly deter me from getting into a fight
with him! The production opening next week is a revival of the famous
version designed by Elijah Moshinsky's, but it is conductor Daniele
Gatti's debut with the opera itself. This is something that pleases
Cura.
"Because he's young and doing it for the first time, he's taken the time
and the trouble to go through things one by one, very carefully, rather
than taking things for granted, and this is something that helps singers
like myself to keep things fresh. When you do a lot of productions with
the same conductors, colleagues and all that, you can become hypnotised
by it almost and it's difficult to retain the spontaneity. But then, I
love this production anyway. I've done it before - two years ago in
Madrid, so I know where things are on stage, it really does feel like my
own house - I am at home on that set, which my character would be, of
course! I love this production anyway though, partly for the simple
things: if you need a chair there's a chair, if you need a bed there's a
bed, which is not always the case in modern opera productions! I've been
in things where I have to close a window, and there's no window there!
Basically you have the things you need, no more, no less."
He goes on to recount a production in the Teatro Colon where the
staging consisted of nothing but a huge red staircase. He laughs,
"For the fourth act, all of a sudden they put on a bed and the audience
were shouting 'We don't want the bed! We want the stairs!', so it was
very difficult for us. But I had a great soprano as a partner and we
managed to create something interesting, considering that we were in the
middle of a red desert."
We move on to discuss other roles. He has covered the majority of
the major repertoire now and I wonder where a tenor like him goes from
here. Peter Grimes, perhaps? "Hmm, I think it's too soon for me -
it's such a different thing from everything else. I have thought about
it, though, I looked at the score then closed it again and said to
myself 'too soon!' - I don't honestly know if I'll ever be ready to do
it. We shall see. I have done my debut in more than 30 roles in the
space of 4 or 5 years. So I'm taking a bit of time off doing new roles
for now, I think I have earned that privilege. Now I want to build on
what I have learned and allow things to mature for a couple of years.
Then we'll see where my voice is taking me, where my curiosity is taking
me, where the market, the taste of the people, theatre programmes and
all these things are going."
As he's brought up
the issue of the market and the general public, I ask if he still finds
himself described as the 'fourth tenor', a moniker that was attached to
him when he first hit the big time, as it were, comparing him with the
celebrated Three Tenors, Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti. He laughs
again, but there's a hard edge to it. "You know I took that very
personally to begin with, but I have more understanding of it now.
Firstly, it's very silly to put somebody in a list with people who are
old enough to be your fathers, who have worked all those years to
achieve what they have - it's like comparing wine and water. But then
you realise it's just a press short cut. It's just to give the audience
the idea of what kind of artist we are talking of. But then you laugh
because you read an interview with Roberto [Alagna] and apparently he
is the fourth tenor, then you read one with Marcelo Alvarez and now he's the fourth tenor, too!"
Whether or not it's the 'fourth tenor', Cura resents labels full
stop. He speaks vociferously about it and I begin to regret asking the
question in first place, but then he smiles and says, "A long time
ago I learned an invaluable lesson from a wine-taster. He said to me
'never look at the label before tasting the wine'. Basically, I am what
I am, and I present it on stage and that's it." This may be true,
but there's nothing high profile singers can do to avoid the media, and
the attendant snappy phrases and labels. As much as we'd be out of a job
if singers and players didn't perform anything for us to write about,
the singers and players themselves need some way of spreading the word
about what they're doing, if only to command the kind of salaries that
the highest of them duly do. Cura has a sensible approach to this,
"You have to try not to be seduced by the media machine - you are part
of it but you don't want to get caught up in it, if you see what I mean.
You have to focus on what you are doing and you meet people and you must
take care that you never compromise your integrity."
He says this as if he knows the deal from painful experience, and I
ask if this is so. "I used to hate the critics, and I made a bit of a
crusade against them. But then I realised I was wasting my energy with
it. I have always welcomed people's opinion when it has been honest,
whether the opinion is good or bad. The only problem is that it is so
very rare to find an honest opinion anywhere these days. Nobody expects
a writer to say that your performance was all lovely and wonderful every
time, but also we have a right not to expect that writers use artists to
take out their own frustrations. Critics have a responsibility, because
as such they should know what they are talking about and so be able to
interpret what they see in the performance and tell other people about
it in an engaging way. This is an intelligent critic. But there are many
who are not, and it is the unintelligent writing that kills the
audiences, that puts a prejudice in their head before they come, or
stops them coming altogether. It means people who might be finding a way
in are suddenly cut off and this is a very bad thing."
He
certainly comes across as an intelligent chap himself, and there's no
question that his opinions are well considered and well informed. This
would be enough to make him an awkward fit in the stereotypical tenor
mould (nice voice, no brains), but there is of course the fact that
singing is not his only professional musical pursuit. He originally
trained as a conductor and though he is known primarily now for his
tenor, he's never stopped conducting, "People are very suspicious of
a singer who conducts, but it's the same for me as with anybody - if I
stand in front of the orchestra and I'm not up to it, I'm out the door,
and if I am up to it, I stay." He's very recently been offered the
position of Principal Guest conductor of Sir Yehudi Menuhin's old band,
the Sinfonia Varsovia. It's a prospect he relishes, "Conducting is
close to my heart and I think once my calendar is a bit less busy -
after 2005 - I will try to make the singing and conducting more
fifty-fifty."
For the moment, though, it's 'Otello' that's occupying his mind, and
he tells me he won't be able to metaphorically breathe out again until
Friday 20 April, when the opening night is done! We finish the interview
by discussing his hopes for the performance, "I think it promises to
be very good - an exciting young conductor, a safe cast, a very
practical and impressive design. But you know there's one other thing
needed for the real magic and that is the audience's energy. If the
artist feels after the first 10 minutes or so that the audience can
sense what he's doing, he will give his blood to that performance, and I
hope that is what we will have next week. It doesn't happen often, but
that level of energy is the most perfect excitement you can have in the
opera house." All in all, I think Cura probably deserves that kind
of a night.
José
Cura
By
Eduardo
Benarroch
Musical Opinion December 2001
(excerpts)
Please,
would the real José Cura stand up? Is he a tenor? A folk song composer? A
conductor? An orchestral arranger? He certainly thinks that the press do not
take his conducting career seriously and he would like that aspect to be better
known. His appointment with the SV in Poland is very important to him:
“For
many families in Argentina, music plays a certain role”, says the
immediately engaging José Cura when I caught up with the tenor during a
break in rehearsals. “I suppose it’s regarded as a civilized and civilizing
middle-class pursuit. My family wasn’t particularly ‘musical’ in that sense
but there was always music to be heard in the house – everything from
Beethoven to Sinatra – and at the age of 12, maybe because I was in Latin
America, I took up the guitar and then went on to study composition and
theory. Singing didn’t come until a lot later and I’m glad it didn’t
because I don’t believe I would have survived it I’d started earlier. It
was deliberately graded as a slow process and I didn’t begin performing
professionally until I was in my early 30s, but I like to think that was the
public face, the tip of the iceberg, and that in many ways I’d been building
towards that appearance for 20 years previously.
