OPERA GALA
José Cura, one of the world's greatest tenors witnessed an important moment when he opened the VeszprémFest series with his opera arias on 5 August 2004. Six years later we were honoured to greet him again among our guest performers for an opera gala. Erika Miklósa Kossuth, Liszt Ferenc and Prima Primissima Prize-winning coloratura soprano singer first stepped onto the festival stage as Queen of the Night in 2006, she sang with Ramón Vargas in 2008 at an opera gala, and then came Don Pasquale in 2012, where she sang as Norina. Ramon Vargas, one of the leading tenors of our time is to return to Veszprém for the third time. He performed with Andrea Rost in Verdi’s Rigoletto in 2005, and then came the aforementioned 2008 performance with Erika Miklósa. After her highly successful first performance as Gilda in 2005, Andrea Rost, Kossuth, Liszt Ferenc and Prima Primissima Prize-winning soprano singer returns to VeszprémFest after 10 years to sing with Ramon Vargas again.
We will greet them all as old friends here in Veszprém. The icing on the cake in this year’s festival programme is that they will sing together on one stage for the first time. So we have plenty of reasons to celebrate. Come and join us!
José Cura
World-famous for his intense and original interpretations of opera characters, as well as for his unconventional and innovative concert performances, tenor José Cura is a familiar name atop the marquees of the most prestigious theaters.
But Cura is much more than an operatic star: he is a trained composer and conductor, an opera director, a stage designer, a brilliant performer, and a natural showman determined to use the best music to engage, entertain, and educate.
Erika Miklósa
Erika Miklósa is a Kossuth, Liszt Ferenc and Prima Primissima Prize-winning coloratura soprano singer.
She was an active teenage athlete, but she had to quit competing due to an injury, after which she turned to singing, first as a hobby. Barely three years later, at the age of 19 (as the youngest ever), she joined the Hungarian State Opera. She debuted abroad in 1992, in Brussels, after being invited by Júlia Hamari. In the same year, she debuted in Mannheim in The Magic Flute as the Queen of the Night, a role that brought her fame on the most prominent stages of London, Paris, Munich and New York – she became one of the most sought after singer in this role, which she has sang more than 500 times. In 1996, she studied abroad first as a fellow student of the Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia, then as the fellow of La Scala, Milan.
She cares deeply about issues and matters related to health, sports and charity and talent programs; she was the Hungarian ambassador of volunteers in 2011, and received an International Fair Play Award in 2012. In 2013, when she worked in Los Angeles, she flew to New York to run the marathon.
During her career, she travelled the world, but her home has nevertheless always remained in Hungary where she lives in a small village in the Bakony mountains.
Ramón Vargas
Ramón Vargas is one of the leading tenors of our time and one of the most sought-after worldwide.
Born in Mexico City, the seventh of nine children. Ramón Vargas began singing at the age of 9, joining the boys' choir of the Basilica of Guadalupe in his home town, then he studied at the Cardenal Miranda Institute in México City.
He now regularly performs at all the major opera houses all over the world.
In addition to his operatic career, he is also an accomplished concert singer, with an extensive repertoire ranging from Italian classical songs to romantic German Lieder and melodies by French, Mexican and Spanish composers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 2000, British Opera Now declared Ramón Vargas Artist of the Year. In 2001, he received the ECHO Klassik - Singer of the Year Award from the German Phono Academy. Each year, since 1999, Austrian Festpiele magazine has given him the first place among the best tenors in the world
He lives with his wife Amalia and his two sons Fernando and Rodrigo in Vienna, Austria.
Andrea Rost
Opera singer (soprano), Kossuth, Franz Liszt and Prima Primissima Prize winner, Eminent Artist
It is inevitable to think of Andrea Rost’s interpretations when speaking about Gilda in Rigoletto or Violetta in Traviata. The widely renowned soprano became a representative artist in Hungarian and international opera scenes. The operatic star has played on the most important stages in the world and has already shown her beautiful voice in numerous leading soprano roles of the opera repertoire.
Besides the opera performances she has had numerous concerts in the most important concert halls and also contributed to several CD and DVD recordings. Her popularity and activity is still unbroken and she is still open to new genres. The proof of that is the recently published audiobook, the Operatales.
