José Luis Victor Cura Gómez (born 5 December 1962) is an Argentine operatic tenor, conductor, director, scenographer and photographer known for intense and original interpretations of opera characters, notably Otello in Verdi’s Otello, Samson in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and Stiffelio in Giuseppe Verdi's Stiffelio.
2007 saw the premiere of La Commedia è finita. The show, designed and directed by Cura – in which he also sang the lead role of Canio – marked the beginning of his career as a director and scenographer. He followed this with his productions of Samson et Dalila at the Badisches Staatstheater in 2010 (in which he also sang the title role) as well as La Rondine at the Opéra national de Lorraine (in which he also conducted) and Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, both in 2012 – singing the roles of Turiddu and Canio.
Early life José Cura was born in Rosario, Argentina. At the age of 12 he was playing guitar under Juan di Lorenzo's guidance; at 15 he made his debut as a choral director; and at 16 he began studies in composition with Carlos Castro and piano with Zulma Cabrera.
In 1982, he entered the Music School at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario to continue his musical education; the following year he became assistant conductor of the university choir. At 21, he won a grant to study at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, where he remained for six months.
Cura continued to sing in the opera chorus while focusing on composition and conducting until 1988, when he began working with Horacio Amauri to develop his singing technique.
Determined to make a career in opera, José Cura moved to Italy in 1991 and began voice training with Vittorio Terranova. In February 1992 he made his debut in Verona as the father in Henze's Pollicino. In Genoa he played Le Remendado in Bizet's Carmen and the Capitano de ballestrieri in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra.
Career as opera singer
Cura's first starring role came in 1993 in Signorina Julia by Bibalo at the Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, Italy.
He began 1994 with a series of highly successful debuts: Ismaele in Verdi's Nabucco in Genoa and Don Alvaro in Verdi's La Forza del Destino in Turin were followed with Ruggero in the world premiere of the third version of Puccini's La Rondine (Turin) and Roberto in the same composer's rarely performed first opera, Le Villi (Martina Franca); the latter performance is particularly noteworthy for providing Cura's first complete opera recording.
In the same year Cura won the first prize of Plácido Domingo's Operalia competition.
In November, he made his US debut in Chicago as Loris Ipanov in Giordano's Fedora, opposite Mirella Freni; he subsequently reprised the role in Trieste in 1995, in London in 1996, in Vienna in 1997 and 1998, and in Tokyo, Zurich and Lecce, Italy, in 1998.
1995–2000 He continued adding roles to his expanding repertoire in 1995. In February, he returned to Italy to star as Paolo il Bello in the Palermo production of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini. In June Cura debuted in London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in the title role of Stiffelio on the opening night of the Verdi Festival.
In 1996, Cura built upon his burgeoning reputation and solidified his position as one of the most promising tenors of his generation. Following his portrayal of Osaka in Mascagni's allegorical opera Iris at the Rome Opera in January, he returned to London to star in Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, a role for which he has received international acclaim. For his debuts in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cura added two roles to his repertoire, Pollione in Bellini's Norma and Don José in Carmen.
Other key roles included Le Villi, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Giordano's Andrea Chénier at Opernhaus Zurich, Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana at the Ravenna Festival (conducted by Riccardo Muti and broadcast on Italian television), and Pagliacci at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw (conducted by Riccardo Chailly and televised live). In December, he starred in the Puccini segment of the BBC "Great Composers" documentary, telecast in December 1997.
Cura's debut at Milan's La Scala came in January 1997, when he starred as Enzo in Ponchielli's La Gioconda. Cura returned to La Scala in June 1998 as Des Grieux in Puccini's Manon Lescaut and again in February 1999 for La Forza del Destino, both conducted by Riccardo Muti.
In 1997, José Cura sang duets with the famous classical crossover soprano Sarah Brightman, singing Just Show Me How to Love You, and There For Me, songs released in her album Time to Say Goodbye.
With a growing international reputation and increased critical interest, José Cura made a pivotal career decision in 1997: at Turin's Teatro Regio, at age 34, Cura debuted in Verdi's Otello, telecast live on Italian television. Under the baton of Claudio Abbado La Nazione ran the headline "José Cura: a new Otello is born!" Opera houses around the world agreed, offering Cura the opportunity to take his Moor to London, Washington, Madrid, Trieste, Munich, Buenos Aires, Nice, Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw, Tokyo, and Florence – making him one of the most eagerly sought-after Otellos of his generation.
Following his Otello debut, Cura starred in Cavalleria Rusticana in Bologna, Tosca in Torre del Lago, Fedora in Vienna, and in an acclaimed Samson et Dalila in Turin. He made his first appearance as leading man at the Arena di Verona in summer of 1997 in Carmen. He headlined in a Night of the Stars Gala in London and concluded the year with a series of sensational concerts in Germany.
It was followed in 1998 when he first appeared in Aida at the inaugural season of the New National Theatre Tokyo.
Said to be one of the great modern voices, in 1999 José Cura returned to Paris for Carmen Milan for La Forza del Destino and Verona for Aida (televised – the first opera ever to be broadcast live over the internet). The year ended with his debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera in Cavalleria Rusticana as only the second tenor in the Met's history to make his debut on opening night (the other having been Caruso in 1903) and at Madrid's Teatro Real in Otello conducted by his long-time friend and mentor, Maestro Luis Antonio García Navarro.
2000–2005
In 2000, José Cura sang Otello in Washington and starred as Alfredo in La Traviata a Paris a groundbreaking production staged in authentic Paris settings while being telecast live around the world.
In 2001 José Cura appeared in numerous special performances and opera productions honoring the Centenary of Verdi's death, including Otello at the Wiener Staatsoper on 27 January (the date of Verdi's death), Paris' Theatre du Chatelet, London's Covent Garden, Trieste's Teatro Verdi and the Zurich Opera House. He sang in performances of Aida in Greece and Japan and created a memorable Don Carlo in Zurich. He gave two concerts with soprano Daniela Dessi celebrating Verdi's art at the Barbican Centre in London and shared the concert stage with Renato Bruson in Parma for an evening of Verdi arias and duets.
Cura continued his stellar run of Verdi productions into 2002, when he starred as Manrico in the ROH (ROH) production of Il Trovatore, reprised Otello in Zurich, and brought his Moor to Warsaw for a special, one-time-only performance. He also appeared in Tokyo in Tosca, Vienna in Pagliacci, and London in Samson et Dalila in a concert version at the Barbican Centre under the baton of Sir Colin Davis. Other important concerts in 2002 included four outdoor venues: Dalhalla, Sweden; Lodz, Poland; Herod Atticus, Athens, Greece; and Hyde Park, London, where Cura entertained an audience estimated at 40,000. Other notable venues included the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Pavilhao Atlantico in Lisbon, and the Kremlin in Moscow.
Operas performed in early 2003 included Otello (Tokyo), Don Carlo (Zurich) and Tosca (Vienna). In June, Cura debuted as Calaf in the Arena di Verona production of Puccini's fantasy opera, Turandot.
Cura began the 2003/2004 with his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper as the prophet Jean in Massenet's rarely performed Hérodiade. In November 2003, Cura returned to the Verdi repertoire to reprise his role of Don Carlo and Alfredo in La Traviata, both in Zurich.
In December and January (2004) he made his return to the US, starring in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Samson et Dalila; in March he reprised the role at the Royal Opera House in London. In Vienna, he introduced an intensely personal Andrea Chénier. In Zurich, Cura triumphed as Dick Johnson in Puccini's La fanciulla del west. In April, Cura conducted Madame Butterfly in Warsaw.
José Cura has been a strong advocate for making classical music accessible to the masses, as demonstrated in his participation in two spectacular events in early 2004. In February, Maestro Cura took up the baton to conduct Verdi's Un ballo in maschera in Piacenza, Italy, in a unique, modern production held in a vast public exhibition hall, designed to open the performance to the widest possible audience. In May, he traveled to Seoul for several performances of Carmen, an extravagant experiment in bringing opera to the people of Asia. Held in an outdoor arena seating 37,000 spectators and performed on a 120-meter long stage outfitted with a video screen the size of a football field. Cura finished the 2003/2004 opera season with Otello in Hamburg and Carmen in Warsaw.
In September 2004, José Cura returned to Zurich for a revival of Otello, followed by the house premiere of Stiffelio in the title role. Cura returned to Lisbon at the end of October to headline an evening of music for the Associacao Portuguesa Contra a Leucemia. He sang a program of American Spirituals, operatic favorites, and Argentine songs, and conducted selections by Orff, Rachmaninov, and Borodin.
On 2 November he hosted the night of ten tenors at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Cura did double-duty as tenor and maestro: he delivered some of opera's most well-known arias, then he stepped onto the podium to display not only his conducting skills but also his innate sensitivity to the needs of his nine young soloists.
2005–2010 Cura opened the calendar year of 2005 with a concert-version of Il Corsaro in Barcelona followed with Samson et Dalila at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In spring 2005, Cura focused his considerable talents on portraying Canio in Berlin and Piacenza in two very different productions. In June, Cura returned to Verona as Radames for two performances of Aida in a Franco Zeffirelli production. In July, he traveled to Munich for two performances of Otello. José Cura ended his 2005 opera season with a run of Turandot at the Arena di Verona.
Cura's first concert of 2005 featured the star soprano Anna Netrebko; both performed before a crowd of 8,000 at the Cologne arena (Lanxess Arena). In July, Cura took part in the opening ceremonies of the World Games in Duisburg, Germany.
Cura started the 2005/2006 season in London starring as Puccini's outlaw hero Dick Johnson in the much-anticipated ROH production of La fanciulla del west (September). Cura then reprised the role of Roberto in Puccini's rarely staged first opera, Le Villi in Vienna (October). In January 2006, Cura returned to the stage in the title role in Andrea Chénier at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. In February, José Cura re-introduced the audience at the Liceu of Barcelona to Verdi's masterpiece, Otello, after an eighteen-year absence.