My Dream Role - Don Giovanni

Interview, 02/2009: José Cura, My dream is the role of Don Giovanni!

José Cura loves the Vienna State Opera, "because one enters into a relationship with the audience much like a marriage." Nevertheless, he still has many wishes for the house that he will present to the next management: premieres of Otello and Samson et Dalila for example - or Don Giovanni...

Renate Wagner

Der Neue Merker

Mr. Cura, we have again seen performances of “Stiffelio" with you in the lead role. One has the impression that this rarely performed Verdi opera is personally very important to you.

I sang the role for the first time in London in 1995, and in 14 years it has developed naturally, not just technically. If you sing Rudolf for such a long time, then one moves naturally away from the figure as a young poet. But in Stiffelio, as in Otello or Canio, one can only grow into it. 14 years ago, I had to pretend to be as old as Stiffelio, a man in his fifties, adding silver strands to my hair because I did not look old enough. Today I try to pull out the real silver...

You are 46, so it is probably not too bad yet ...

Basically it is about something else. There are two reasons why people go to the opera - or in general, two ways to approach opera. Some may simply want beautiful music - that's absolutely fine. Others want a truly thrilling theatrical experience. And that is it that makes me interested in a role. In general, one can say that Stiffelio gives nothing to the tenor, and if one considers that the soprano has several arias and the baritone and enormous scene, that may be correct. As a tenor one works hard singing all the time but remains somewhat in the background, the audience not even given the opportunity for applause so one remains unrewarded. But nevertheless, for me it a great role compared to others where one sings his arias and maybe has nothing interesting to play. I love complex characters. And when you consider the last act of "Stiffelio", the battle between him and Lina on the divorce, this is the purest Ibsen! It was ultra-modern and almost shocking for a Verdi audience. And perfect for me. I'm not gladly the hero or the romantic Beau, but love a difficult role. I sing Stiffelio wherever I can. In 2004 there was an interesting presentation in Zurich – at the beginning director Cesare Lievi and I did not quite come together, but it ended up being a very good effort. And in 2010 I sing Stiffelio at the Met, in a Giancarlo del Monaco production. 

 Speaking of dramatic roles: you sing Don José this year at the Staatsoper after Cavaradossi and Stiffelio.

Yes, and for me it is almost a premiere, because I sang the role here only once, 1998, more than ten years ago, and then only two performances with Agnes Baltsa. Vesselina Kasarova is now my partner, whom I know from Zurich, although I have never performed on stage with her.  I look forward to it, because she is a real stage animal.   

Between the Vienna Stiffelio and the Vienna Don José, you are traveling to Bologna to conduct some performances of ‘La Rondine’.  Is conducting a hobby or a career?

If a pianist like Barenboim or a cellist like Rostropovich conducts, no one thinks anything of it but if a singer conducts everyone is immediately suspicious.  I started my studies with the intentions of becoming a conductor and composer.  I also became a tenor and it would be senseless not to pursue this career, especially when one has brought it something:  a man spends so many years fighting to become a mature singer.  I would be lying if I said I am not happy as a tenor.  But if I were only a conductor, I would be satisfied.  Currently, about one quarter of my obligations are conducting, and this is a good thing, because it is not wise to sing too much, so it is good to let the voice rest and still do something musical.

Was your penchant for Puccini the reason for conducting ‘La Rondine’?

That, and because I think ‘La Rondine’ is in some ways similar to ‘Stiffelio’—little know, less popular but still a masterpiece.  The first act is pure conversation, in some ways Puccini anticipated the Richard Strauss style, it was actually revolutionary at the time, but it does not conform to the stereotype Puccini.  That is why it interests me.  But this work is also related to the fact that I am very much connected to the Bologna theater, where I have sung for fifteen years, and where I would have made an exciting premiere about which I was very happy—‘Nerone’ by Boito which was first performance in 1924 and has been sung since by almost nobody.  And the cancellation came with the greatest regret, because no one could afford the premier—the situation in the Italian opera houses at present is absolutely devastating, you never know when another premier will take place.  Then they asked me—probably because they needed a well-known name—whether I could do ‘La Rondine’ with students from the master class.  Because I work a lot and am very pleased to work with young people – my tenor in the "Rondine" was 22- I was happy to agree to do this. I think it is important that you give what you know and can, because otherwise how can we live on in the next generation. I hope somebody shares knowledge and experience with my children.

You have sung almost all the major roles in your fach.   Other than “Nero,” are there others you are open to?

I would very much like to sing Peter Grimes, which would be my first role in English.  I could probably sing one or two of the Wagnerian roles, but I know when I have to think in the language that I could not perform at the level I demand of myself and that is why I will probably never do it.  But I do have a dream—and that would be Don Giovanni.  Don’t say he is lies too low for me because I now sing Otello which sometimes goes as deep. I love Mozart but unfortunately don’t have the voice for his tenor parts—but Don Giovanni….someone should trust me with the role before I become too old for it.

You were—and still are—one of the big names in the generation that came after the ‘three tenors,’ but the next generation is also here.  The world of the tenor is a battlefield.  They are all seen are very ambitious.  Have you achieved what you wanted?

The pressure is enormous if you want to become a world-class tenor, but it is a lot worse when you are young than later.  Then we know we cannot be ‘the best’ but only the best we can be. And one must give this [this effort] every evening—but not every single night can turn out to be the best, one must also know this, because it depends on so many things, on ourselves, on our partners.  And if one recognizes this then the big pressure goes away, and one can take it more easily, smile a little more and feel fine.  One is, in the end, only a human being, not a perfection machine, every day is a lottery and with experience one can prevent some things…but if it happens, then it just happens. I must say that today I am more relaxed than before. We singers have a wonderful job that I truly love, and it is also a calling, but ultimately it is a job that pays the bills. And about ambition—it is a good thing, because if mankind had not always striven farther, today we would still be in the Stone Age.  I also think we should always aim for anything we are able to reach.  Without being greedy, however.  I admit that there are times when one becomes addicted to the applause of the audience, but after 30 years on stage—I was 15 the first time I stood on the boards—you learn to deal with it. 

Is not every singer addicted to applause?  How about boos, which there sometimes are.  Do they hurt?

This must also be seen in perspective.  If one has a bad night and knows it himself, maybe they are deserved, although not necessarily fair.  But 99 percent of boos are organized and that is really sad.  If someone says to me after the performance that I was not good—fine.  But to hide in anonymity, that’s cowardly.  I am almost sorry for these people.  But I am afraid we live in a world where this has become the norm, where everyone creeps away behind his computer and hides behind an alias when he expresses himself in blogs, chatrooms, or letters to the editors. Nobody admits who he is and what views he represents.

 We talked earlier about how you actually wanted to be a conductor and composer.  Are you still composing?

Oh, yes.  From the beginning I was fascinated by the spiritually of the Latin church music, and in 1984 wrote a requiem for the victims of the Falkland War, later a "Stabat Mater" or a "Magnificat", also a children's opera.  Recently, I set seven poems by Pablo Neruda to music.  Whenever I sing them, they are very positively received.  In Vienna, I sang two of them for the “Argentine Nights”….

You come from Argentina, live in Madrid, travel around the world.  Where do you feel at home?

My wife and I left Argentina because we saw no future opportunities for us and our son—today we have three children, the youngest came into the world in Paris--and now Madrid is our home.  We left our homeland with the firm intention of not looking back with tragic nostalgia: though I do not cry for Argentina, I obviously feel connected to it.  I must say that my grandparents—they came from Spain, Italy, and Lebanon to find a new home after the First World War—once suffered as immigrants always do and longed for their former homes.  If my wife and I—her forefathers are Spanish and Italian—now come to Europe and have become half European, then it is virtually the return of the next generation.

You have spoken of your children.  Do any of them show interest in this, even maybe to become a musician?

My oldest son is already grown, he is 22, lives in London and wants to be an actor so one may still hear about Ben Cura.  My daughter is 15 with all the interests of a fifteen-year old, and my youngest son is 12, and his main interest currently lies in football.  I have always made sure my career does not eat up my family life—I never want to be away from home for longer than a week at a time, then I come back for a few days, even if I have to spend a lot of time in an airplane.  And it has cost me a lot of commitments, because I simply will not live for months without interruption in another city.

Last question:  what does the Vienna State Opera mean to you?

One must see this from two sides.  Here there is a special public with which one virtually enters into a lifelong relationship similar to marriage.  If they know and like you, they are interested in everything you do, every new role, every evening.  They know what one can do, recognize if one is very good and are not angry if once one is not perfect.  One must not always begin, so to speak, from zero again, one can build on this connection with the audience, and this is very beautiful for a singer.

On the other hand, the house is a repertory company, one in which one jumps again and again into his roles.  I have sung here since November 1996 when I debuted as Cavaradossi and since then I have performed in many roles but have had only one premier at this house, and that was ‘Le Villi,’ a one act opera.  I hope that if the management does a new production of ‘Otello’ and ‘Samson et Dalila’, they do them with me.  This is a wish and aim and I would like to deposit here as well as the Don Giovanni…..

Vienna, 2009.02.26 01:29:53

No need to fear the challenges of opera

 Zlatko Vidačković

KULISA.eu

3 October 2008

 

We talked with the famous tenor José Cura, remembered for his first performance in Croatia at the Rijeka Summer Nights with Dubravka Separovic-Musovic and for directing and performing the play La commedia e finita (at the core of which was Pagliacci), on the occasion of his upcoming concert with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra of 3 October, where he will perform opera arias from Leoncavallo, Verdi, and Puccini under the direction of Mario de Rose.  At the press conference he stressed that opera arias in concert can be sung convincing only with the full understanding of the scene.

Q: As a singer, you often are asked to perform in operas that look completely different from the original ideas and perceptions.  Does that bother you and are you still able to become the character?

JC:  If directed by one with intelligence, this can be a [good] challenge.  The play can be different but still interesting.  Problems arise if the director is not so intelligent, or if the director is trying to be different just to be different.  If audiences and critics after the show say in general that the directing is neither good nor bad, but just different—it is not enough.

What I did in Rijeka was different, and people could like it or not, but it had a logic and meaning in the development of the story.

The artistic world is diverse, and that is one of its beauties.  I do not mind having to dress as Superman, but the director needs to find logic and be willing to inspire me with his logic.  If not, the singer on stage will feel like an idiot.  That is my limit.  I can sing upside down, with mud on my face, blood in my mouth, but if there is something you cannot work through in the scene, then you feel like an idiot.

Q:  What is your experience in working with directors?

JC:  I have had good luck. I have worked with some crazy directors, but never absurd things. Some colleagues were not so lucky and worked in Rigoletto at Planet of the Apes.

If the scene is meant to be completely absurd, the diplomatic way to success is to make little changes and improvements in order to make it work.  Try to communicate with the director, to make him understand the experience on the stage.

Q: What is your opera production was the worst in these terms?

JC: Otello at the Opera in Zurich. The entire performance took place on a spacecraft. We felt like we were on the Enterprise.  Any links with Cyprus and Venice were cut off and it was difficult to create characters. However, we found the key to reading the play in the fact that we isolated in the middle of the universe, without contact and with a strong sense of claustrophobia. It was not the best Otello in my life, but I found a way to make the show function. The audience loved it and it did not turn out so bad. So I still have not met with any impossible stagings and hope I will not in the future. 

Q: Is your experience in opera that audiences today are still largely conservative, or do most of them prefer modern productions?

JC: At the moment the conservatives are still numerous but there is an increasing number of spectators who want to see new things on the opera stage. The situation is changing. Many have told me that they come to my performances not only because they appreciate me as a singer but because my performances always have something new going on and they are curious to see. And that's good.

Some people have become nervous because of this, but it is a part of the work. I know that much of what I present is controversial, but controversial does not mean bad. It is good for society and for opera that people discuss, exchange opinions, have opposing views.

What is worse is when someone says this is not good because of how it looks. Such arguments do not hold. That means the development of the world was stuck at three hundred years ago. All people who have made progress in the arts and sciences have done so because they were doing things that were not expected in their time. There are a great many who understand the sacrifice of someone who risks bringing something new to the role. Some do not want to take risk, do not want to allow change either in opera or in society, because every change means a revolution and a reassessment of their position in society.

People are afraid to lose their sense of security, the shell that they imagine protects them. I do not criticize such a reaction and I respect everyone’s right to disagree with me. But we must seek to preserve a level of decency in criticizing and try not to offend. If you attend a performance you don’t like, don’t applaud. But do not cry "boo" during the show, because that demonstrates a lack of respect not only for the singer but by everyone who worked for two months.

Q:  Where you ever booed and did you leave the performance?

JC:  I have never left a performance.  Once we had a couple of people crying, "boo" for political reasons, and in 1997 in La Scala there were shouts of ‘boo’ because I sang while lying on the floor.  At that time, for them, it was a violation of the rules.  Now it is common. At the other performances I showed that this was my choice in accepting the directing, singing the aria while standing and getting standing ovations, but on the third I lay back and no one protested.

Q:  You mentioned political reasons. Can opera still provoke social debate?

JC:  If you read the librettos, opera involves a lot of incredibly contemporary and current problems that are very much of today. Samson is one of the first in history who killed himself and others in the name of God. Today that happens every day in some parts of the world. Riccardo in Masked Ball demonstrates a real network of interest and political intrigue, and most of what happens in the opera Tosca can happen today.

The key to opera….as in all works of art that were created long ago, is to find the key to their reading through the prism of today. Then you can find a big surprise.  They are written in the style of their time, but if you read carefully, the same situations are happening today, with no major changes.  The task for those of us in opera is not to be afraid of its challenges.

Q:  Drama and ballet often perform new works of art, but opera much less often ...

JC:  It does not surprise me. If attacking modern directing of most traditional operatic works, then would such a public accept new operas? If we can not break free of the cliché that opera must always run the same way, how can we break free of the cliché that you do not need to run from modern opera? We must go step by step, and the first battle has not yet been won. It is not a battle concerning the appeal; rather the spirit of openness. The theater does not need to be the place to go always observe the expected. If you want to see the same always, save money, stay at home, and watch a DVD. Audiences should be open to new experiences and ideas, bring them home, think about them and then decide which one to keep forever and which ones to forget. It is then interesting.

Q: Do you see today in the audience enough young people?

JC:  It is hard to win young people. They are not naive like the young in the fifties. They have internet, television, DVDs ... Right or not, they think they have the right to express their opinions about the work of art, regardless of how many actually saw it.

Furthermore, it is hard to surprise or shock them. Twenty years ago, we were shocked with naked bodies on stage. Today it is almost funny. It is difficult to interest these people, because they think they have experienced it all. To get such a person to eat, you need to offer something really delicious and fragrant. To challenge.

Q: In communicating with the audience, how much importance on the voice acting, and acting as the body, gestures and face?

JC:  It depends on the role and the scene. If a character dies on stage, the voice can only be so strong and clean. In Otello's death scene it is very well know that I have a knife in my stomach. In the actual situation, the blood would be rising through the windpipe and choking me. Dramatic actors certainly try to give voice to dying. Why not do the same in the opera as music and singing permit? Conservative audiences will say no! We want to hear the most beautiful song in every scene, even when the character dies. Modern audiences will say that is funny, he dies singing at full strength or purity of the voice! Who do you please? You should try to find the right measure, balance, and not try to satisfy everyone.  My priority is to meet young people, because they guarantee the future of opera.

José Cura on the sensuality, the sensuousness of opera; on bad composers; on a possible withdrawal from his career as singer.

 

--Mr. Cura, on the day Massenet’s “Cid” premiered in Zurich, you learned of your father’s death. Yet you still went on to sing.

 

--Yes, it was a nightmare and a very special situation all at the same time. I had always known intuitively that this kind of message would reach me eventually, when least expected. But it was also clear to me that I was bound to break down and cry for a week whenever my father passed away. On the day of the “Cid” premiere, I had no clue what I should do. I was distraught about that, too. Now add the fact that the performance would have been cancelled if I had not sung. There are simply no singers who have “Le Cid” in their repertoire. Sometime along the way, I told myself, “Let it all out while you’re singing”. I had Alexander Pereira, the theater manager, announce me with an introduction. And I dare say that I sang as never before. In any case, it was as intense as never before. I will surely not be able to repeat that. I hope, I will never have to sing this part again, ever.

 

--To what extend did you sing differently?

 

--I cried as I sang. The conductor was also crying, as was the audience. I believe that in the end the standing ovations weren’t for me but for my father. Then, there is the fact that Massenet’s “Cid” deals with a father-son conflict from beginning to end. Looking back, I believe there couldn’t have been a more beautiful tribute to him than that.

 

--In the meantime, you have been reducing your singing schedule noticeably in favor of conducting and stage directing. Have you grown tired of your career as a singer?

 

--No, but I’ve grown a bit weary of the routine. Roles like for example Loris in Umberto Giordano’s “Fedora”--an opera, which may not be top choice—are difficult for me on a continuing basis. After a certain period of time, they come to taste bitter. Massenet, too, is after all a good composer but not one with whom any given note could only be this one way and no other. I must say that in the course of my career, I have taken the stage in quite a few works, which are, musically speaking, not completely satisfactory. I’m not trying to complain; rather, I do know how to judge what separates Mozart from the early Verdi. “Stiffelio” is a very beautiful piece, but it cannot compete with “Falstaff”, can it?

 

--You are talking about a feeling of unease towards the works you sing?

 

--Yes, a bit. An artist’s most essential attribute, his most characteristic quality should indeed be honesty. I am more honest, more genuine, when I am doing something that really engages me mentally, that touches me on the inside. I have moved among a limited number of roles and role offerings for too long. Besides, I am sensitive to the limitations, the finite nature of my profession. Giuseppe di Stefano, recently deceased, had a colorful, richly varied, perhaps excessive life. He lived to be 86 years old, but his career was at a peak not even twenty years.  My father’s death made me once again keenly aware of how limited, how finite everything is.

 

--You hail from Argentina; your musical versatility is somewhat similar to that of your compatriot Daniel Barenboim. Coincidence?

 

--Yes, for sure. Barenboim’s many-sidedness, also in the political, linguistic and cultural arena, is amazing. I mustn’t compare myself to him, whom I consider to be one of the greatest minds among musicians of the present time. Compared with him, I am quite small.

 

--How do you explain the fact that there are so many South American tenors?

 

--The short answer would be that the very question is actually discriminatory. Nobody wonders about three Italian-speaking tenors. But the five South American tenors- and there’s no getting around that they in fact exist- have to define and explain themselves constantly. I think that’s just asking too much. The more serious answer would be that as a people we are very much a cultural mix. My father’s family hails from Lebanon; my mother is half Italian and half Spanish. Thus, as far as ancestry is concerned, I am absolutely Mediterranean. At least, that might be a cultural explanation for why I ended up in Italian opera.

 

--Has the time passed, when you were frequently asked about Wagner?

 

-- Thank goodness! I have always declined all Wagner offers, and I’m going to stick to that. In fact, even the concert version of “Parsifal”, which I was to sing at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper in 2010, is not going to take place. Not on account of me, to be sure, but rather because the future principal conductor would prefer to do a full-fledged stage production. My problem is: I consider learning a text phonetically the worst of all ways imaginable. Doing that, you’ll never find the clues that point to the spirit of the matter. I’m blessed with what I’m capable of and will humbly stay with it. To be sure, the only Wagner role that could indeed tempt me would be Tristan. Some sort of German Otello, isn’t he?

 

--Surprisingly enough, your career started with parts in Hans Werner Henze’s “Pollicino”, Oscar Strauss’ “Walzertraum” and Janacek’s “The Makropulos Affair”. Was your voice misjudged so badly?

 

--Perhaps, but more than anything I’ve no doubt continued to develop in the meantime. I was in Vicenza not too long ago, where two nice-looking young people came to me backstage. “Don’t you recognize us?” they asked me. It was Pollicino and one of his little sisters, the child actors from fifteen years ago. I could probably sing the role of Niki in the “Walzertraum”, which is rather low, better today than back then. The only thing is that I’m perhaps already too old for it. I consider Janacek’s “Macropulos Affair” a really great work, and I enjoyed singing it a lot.

 

-- Your most important roles are no doubt Otello and Samson. How often in the course of a year—and how often in a career—is one able to sing such roles?

 

--A very legitimate question. For a while there, it was awful with “Otello”; I was singing him constantly all over the world. That got to be too much, even for me. I haven’t sung the role for a year and a half now, and in the future I’m going to do about five or six “Otello” performances per year. The problem is that this role really is a killer. You’re totally exhausted afterwards, physically as well as emotionally; a total wreck. Nonetheless, in 2010 I plan to return to the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in both roles, as Otello and as Samson; both in new productions. I keep to what I can do best. And if there is anything that I truly regret as far as my recording career is concerned, it is the fact that I never managed to do a studio recording of “Otello”.

 

--In Hamburg, you conducted “Cavalleria rusticana” in 2003, and right afterwards, as part of that evening’s performance, you sang Canio in “Pagliacci”. To set a record?

 

--No, rather because it was an offer. Artists respond to offers. And you know what: I didn’t do badly at all.

 

--It seems that you find yourself time and again in a position of having to defend, i.e. to justify yourself, due to your varied activities.

 

--That’s indeed so. People always ask: Why? Whereby most of them could give themselves the answers or they’re asking the question out of ignorance. All I can say is: If the concerts I conduct don’t speak for themselves, well, then there is nothing I can do about it. But I do believe they speak for themselves.

 

--Since you are a singer yourself, are you a better conductor for your singers because of that fact or rather only a tougher one—something that is said for example of the former counter tenor René Jacobs?

 

-- A better conductor; that’s what I hope I am. For I know what singers need from a conductor. And I dare say I’m also a bit tougher because I cannot accept the sentence: “That cannot be sung” from a singer. That’s to say, not when I know that, and even how, it can be done. This may also be a reason why singers are often dissatisfied with conductors. When they know too little about singing (as is the case with most), they do everything wrong. When they know too much about singing (as is the case with very few), the singers do everything wrong. From a singer, who refuses to do something, I can accept only this one sentence: “Can’t we try it a different way?” And I mean, that’s what I’ll do then, too.

 

Rolando Villazon’s career received a substantial boost thanks to his stage partner Anna Netrebko. Things were similar for Domingo due to Leontyne Price, and in the case of the young Pavarotti because of Joan Sutherland. Does one need something like that as a tenor?

 

Fact is that I had nothing of the sort. For the news, which should always be taken care of these days, it’s perhaps something that’s necessary. On stage, I have often rather had the feeling that a good mezzo soprano or a good baritone is important to a tenor. There are really great things to be sung together. This can be of greater significance to the course and the tenor of a performance than a famous soprano.

 

If you had made the change away from Erato early on- if you, for instance, had gone to Deutsche Grammophon, would your career have developed differently?

 

Today, that’s certainly no longer the case. One mustn’t forget that there has been a tremendous decline in the importance and impact of the CD labels. In the past, one got a ‘Gold Record’ for 100,000 copies sold, these days already for 10,000. I’m afraid, the continuing trend toward the internet plus the download have sealed the fate of the CD. I still grew up with vinyl discs, LPs. They were huge, and there was a sensuality to the touch. That was something luxurious. In my opinion, the move down to the CD, even though acoustically of advantage, was already sad enough, but there’s a genuine experience of a loss in the step to the download.

 

What is it that gets lost for you?

 

The sensual experience of the contact, of being in touch. Things are getting ever more anonymous and lonely for us. One doesn’t even go to a store any more. We used to call each other up on the phone. Today, one texts the words “f… you”, if one wants to break up with someone. In that respect, classical music is a bastion of what’s old-fashioned, of what’s no longer ‘in’. But that’s also where the only chance is, in my estimation.

 

Also as far as opera is concerned?

 

Absolutely. People could stay home, if their sole intent were to listen to music. In opera, everything revolves around immediacy, the directness of the singer-audience experience. Between us, there is nothing other than the music. Opera is about larger-than-life characters, sweating, excessive, radically dramatic; it’s about emotions, in the raw without safety net, and that’s what’s so special, so unique. We are no ‘digital files’, nothing virtual. That’s the difference. And out of this arises a cultural mandate, a mission. We’re out to preserve something otherwise on the verge of being lost.

How is it that you are one of only a few singers who get to have their own fan club?

I admit, I have been wondering about that myself. Several years ago, some very friendly ladies came to me and asked whether I objected to a fan club. The problem was that my name is behind it; that I, therefore, appear to be somehow connected with it, which is after all not really the case. But meanwhile, I'm finding it to be quite nice. I suppose it's also a tenor thing.

Do you have as many different role models as you have artistic disciplines?

I guard my role models jealously and, to be honest, do not like to talk about them. I have never named them, because I consider idols the root of almost every evil. They are the reason for all manner of fanaticism--including the political. I admire many artists, but I grant myself the luxury of keeping their names to myself.

Can you imagine some day giving up your career as a singer?

Every singer must live, must come to terms with this notion. I would call it quits, if I were to sing one evening of which I thought: There's no better way. Toward this point in time, I have been taking some small precautionary measures by way of those other areas in which I am actively involved. But I don't believe it will come to that all that soon.

Translation: Monica B.

 

 

La chance au Samson

La Libra

Nicolas Blanmont

18/09/2009

 

"Samson et Dalila" opens the season outside the walls of the ORW.  

Stafano Mazzoni definitely has connections.  To sing the role of Samson in Liege, he has called upon one of the most well-known interpreters of the role on the international stage:  José Cura.  For the biblical hero with the precious hair, the Argentine tenor (who, not to waste time, is also a conductor, composer, and director) has charisma and power – as much physical as vocal.  Besides, he has performed it almost every year since assuming the role at Covent Garden (1996) through Bologna last year, which is also the production that will be staged—with necessary renovations—in Country Hall Ethias, on the Sart-Tilman heights. 

‘Samson pleases me from the vocal point of view and in the physical sense:  even if his power comes from God and not from muscles, the fact that I am a rather tall and strapping man corresponds well with the image the public has of this character.  But I do not like what he is, even if he is a character in the Bible – but then not all the characters in the Bible are saints! This guy is rather negative, a revolutionary in the beginning, which is pretty nice, but what he does in the name of God, which unfortunately is very modern, is less nice.  It is a story we see written daily in the newspapers and I do not think only of Allah, or even religions, but also anything which imposes ideas by force, whether in the name of money, oil, or whatever else.'

Unlike the recent production of the Flemish Opera which directly transposed the action to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the production in Liege is located in a less-dateable world:  no updating or peplos, but costumes blending oriental and science fiction, with some current references (the Intifada) but also some mythic images (the broken columns and the crumbling temple in the end). Cura has no shortage of ideas on the matter, since he will be staging the work (while singing it, too) in Karlsruhe next year.

One might be surprised to see Cura, a tenor at the top of his art, diversify to conducting and directing (and he happens to do both on some nights) when at 47 years of age he is not yet force to think about his retraining.  Instability?  By no means. ‘The routine is reassuring, and I could be satisfied just singing three or four roles for the next twenty years.  But I do not like to sleep and I do like risk:  so, when someone suggested directing or stage designing, why not?  These are trades I know – I studied conducting before I started singing – and where, without claiming to be the best, I am not doing too badly.  There are better, but there are worse.  I usurp nothing – no one asks me to build a hospital or pilot a plane! – and I do not do it for money because the fees for these are about a quarter of my tenor fees.'

Liège, Country Hall Ethias, Friday 18 and September 25 to 20h, Sundays 20 and September 27 at 15h; www.orw.be, 04.221.47.22

 

Tenor José Cura: Entering Unknown Territory Enriches Him as a Singer

 

EFE - Santander - 19/08/2009  (Diario Público)

 

(The Argentine tenor Jose Cura poses after a press conference today that he gave at the Palacio de Cantabria summer during the recital that will offer tomorrow, for the programming of the 58th International Festival of Santander (FIS). - Reuters)

The Argentine tenor José Cura offers a recital tomorrow at the International Festival of Santander (IFS), devoted to the music of his country where he will debut the songs he composed, an aspect of the artist he defends saying that ‘sticking his nose’ into unfamiliar territory enriches him as a singer.  Cura returns to the FIS, where last year he starred in a new production of Samson et Dalila, to perform songs written by composers from his country like Hilda Herrera, Alberto Ginastera, Carlos Gustavino, Héctor Panizza. Giulo Laguzzi will accompany him on piano.

The program includes seven love sonnets by Pablo Neruda which he has put to music in a projected promoted by the Fundación Pablo Neruda of Chile.

This will be the Spanish debut of some of the song which he has already performed in Italy and other European countries, but this time it is, for him, ‘special’ because for the first time he is going to sing before an audience that understands the language of the Chilean poet..  

Cura stressed today that his recital of Argentine music is not pop music or tango, but rather works, in his view, that can be compared with the songs of Schubert or Schumann.

The compositions are not the only "unknown territory but not incompatible” with his status as tenor that the Argentine is getting involved with. Between next year and 2012 he plans to conduct three operas.

The first will be in Germany, where he debuts in 2010 with a new production of Samson et Dalila as stage director, set designer and singer.

By 2010, he expects to direct a new Otello, which will be produced for a circuit of theaters in Italy, although he cannot yet reveal details of the project.

Also on his calendar is La Rondine by Puccini in the French city of Nancy, which Cura defines as an "experiment with young people" whom he will teach before they go on the opera stage.   In this Rondine, he will do double duty as the production head, since he will be in charge of managing both stage and music.  “Since I will not be singing, this will give me the double luxury of being in the pit,” he said during his press conference.

“Some write that my ego is immeasurable, but that has nothing to do with it.  It is my curiosity and my desire to experience, my enthusiasm for working with youth,” the Argentine tenor emphasized, saying that there are those who insist on reading his eagerness to venture into other areas ‘in terms of ego,’ but he does so ‘in terms of enthusiasm and love of life.’

The tenor underlined that his work as composer, stage director and conductor is not relegating his talent as a singer to the background, but is rather enriching [his singing.]

 

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Tenor José Cura Believes That to Venture into Other Facets of Music "Enriches" His Work as Singer

Cultura - 20-08-2009 14:30:00  

Argentine tenor José Cura, who this evening will perform a recital of music from Argentina at 21:00 in the Argenta Room, believes that venturing into other facets of music and ‘nosing’ into territories close to his own, as he has done in moving into production and stage direction, “can only enrich you.”

In fact, he welcomed recent criticism which emphasized precisely that by opening his range of experience he has enriched his work as a singer, claiming that the sacrifice of giving his time to more things and ‘to sleep less and to work more is worth it.” 

The tenor, who is offering a recital of the music of Argentina in the Santander International Festival (FIS), also acknowledged that ‘many’ say his ego is ‘immeasurable’ but he sees it ‘as enthusiasm and love of life.’ 

As he explained at his press conference, he will offer a program [heard] for the first time in Spain.  The repertoire is music from Argentina, but not traditional Argentine music like tango but rather Argentine chamber music, with elaborate piano accompaniments.  Also included is a cycle of seven poems by Neruda, which also debuts for the first time in our country and which in his opinion “has enormous value.” 

For the tenor, ‘the beauty of the poetry in this type of music is so much, or even more, important than the music itself,’ and he also emphasized that “there is no more comfortable feeling than knowing the public is understanding what you are saying.”

Several of the songs being performed in the recital are by Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino, ‘our particular Schubert,’ he said.  This composer wrote over 500 songs and, according to Cura, ‘many’ of them are better than those of Schubert.

Relationship with the FIS

The singer, who hosted the press conference accompanied by the director of the FIS, José Luis Ocejo, and the pianist who will accompany him, the Italian Giulio Laguzze, with whom he has worked for 17 years, recalled he was also at the festival last year, with the work Samson et Dalila.

In this respect, he thought it was good to exploit human relations with the festival more than merely the professional, since as a professional it is always necessary in the end to come to an agreement, because everything is very technical, but it is the human thing that is most difficult, in ways of seeing in life, in dreams, what is possible to cultivate.

For his part, the Director of the FIS said that artists ‘always return to this exceptional festival' and he is extremely proud to once more have ‘one of the great principle voices in opera.’ 

Projects As Stage Director And Producer

José Cura also works as a producer and stage director and one of his next projects is due in October or November next year in Karlsruhe (Germany)—a new production of Samson et Dalila, with Cura as stage manager and performer.  In addition, he will make a circuit of Italian theaters with Otello in 2011. 

In France, in the city of Nancy, he is involved with a project with which he is particularly excited, working with young people in a ‘master class’ to develop and implement a work for which he will also be in the pit.

 

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"Sticking My Nose Into Other Areas Enriches Me."

José Cura returns to the Argenta Hall today with a recital devoted to the music of Argentina and songs by the tenor

El Diario Montañés

Almudena Ruiz,  Santander

 The Argentine tenor José Cura, who returns today to the International Festival with a recital devoted to the music of Argentina, said yesterday that “poking my nose into unknown territory is not in conflict with my performance but enriches me” as a singer.  Cura, who in the past two years has ventured into the world of orchestral and stage direction and set designing, announced at the press conference that in 2012 he will launch an experiment in Nancy (France) with young singers about which he is “excited.”

José Cura became the first artist who sang and conducted simultaneously in both concerts and on recordings.  For his recital devoted entirely to Argentine music, the tenor has chosen music by Alberto Ginasterra, Hilda Herrera, Hector Panizza, Carlos Gustavino, and others. The program will also include a few sonnets by Pablo Neruda the tenor has set to music. “The whole program has been sung many times in Europe but this recital is special because it is the first time that we do it in Spain, a country that will understand the lyrics,” said Cura, who emphasized that this is Argentine music but “not pop music or tangos” but works like those of “Gustavino that can be compared with those of Schubert."

The tenor announced yesterday that he will continue with the career as director and set designer he began last year with the premier of Un ballo in maschera at the Cologne Opera House. In October or November of next year he will direct and design Samson et Dalila in Germany and in 2010 intends to perform a new production of Otello in a circuit of theaters in Italy, a project for which he avoids giving details. 

Between these projects is a production of Puccini’s triptych for Opera de Nancy (France). Off this project the Argentine tenor explains this is a cycle of a master class in which young singers will work on the staging of the opera.  “I will be given the luxury of being in the pit,” said Cura, who is “thrilled” with this “experiment with youth.” 

As for those who assert it is his “immense ego” that leads to his desire to undertake projects to direct or conduct, the Argentine tenor said that it was only a question of his “will to experiment.”

“It is my curiosity, my enthusiasm and love of life,” stressed the artist.  In this regard, he noted that reviews of his recent recital at the Festival de Peralada speak precisely to his work in other fields as well as his interpretations to suggest the singer had been enriched.  “If the work is noticed, then the sacrifice is worthwhile,” he said.

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