How Did This Project Start?

The idea originated in discussions between Chevalier José Cura and New Devon Opera in the autumn of 2005. When NDO first approached Maestro Cura to invite him to be the company's Patron, Chairman Linda Hughes went to meet him backstage at the Royal Opera House, where he was singing the role of Dick Johnson in Puccini's Girl of the Golden West.

As the two talked, it became clear that both NDO and Maestro Cura had some similar views about how our emerging regional opera company might find ways of helping talented young artists to develop their careers.   Blessed himself with a rich burnished tenor voice, mesmerizing stage presence and abundant charm, José Cura has been thrilling audiences since he first burst onto the international music scene. His intelligent, insightful – sometimes controversial, but always intense and unforgettable performances - have made him a household name to opera lovers the world over.

But this success did not come easily. As Cura himself puts it:   “I moved from Argentina to Europe in 1991. I worked for two or three years in restaurants – my wife worked with me, washing dishes – and we did many things a lot of people wouldn't think about doing. We had a very hard life. We lived in a garage for one year because we couldn't pay the rent and we heated the garage with a small fire, with me gathering wood in the middle of the night!”   It is this memory that drives his desire to help promising singers to gain the skills and experience needed to succeed in the notoriously tough and challenging world of international opera.

The timing was chosen to coincide with the only period when Maestro Cura is in the UK in 2007, (he is currently appearing as the lead in in Verdi's “ Stiffelio” at the Royal Opera House . )   The company is enormously grateful to Maestro Cura for his most generous gift of time, energy, skill, and commitment to this whole Project.