Quotable Cura

The Quotable Cura

"If you don't enjoy the fact of knowing that you are being observed, then you go home. You should have a healthy, well controlled vanity." Daily Telegraph, 2001

“I am not trying to be the first tenor in the world. ...I am just a good tenor - just that - a good, honest musician who does his work.” The Singer, June/July 1998 /Antonia Couling

"There are artists who are technically perfect but otherwise don't give you anything. The performance is over, you go to dinner and say O.K., that was nice but let's talk about something else. On the other hand, when the performance ends and people cry, they don't stop to applaud but race backstage with the wish to touch you, then it is a different story……" Magazin Pravo, Oct 2003

"I am someone who has suffered and struggled, who has resisted and still managed to get to the top of the mountain through the storm – and I am proud of all that. If being proud of all I’ve done in my life after 25 years of hard work is arrogance, then I am arrogant!" Vima, July 2004 /Thanasis Lalas

“I’d rather prove myself on stage and think about what’s essential and basic: total, complete honesty and absolute passion.” Kurier, Feb 04

“I don't understand why to be an opera singer you have to be ugly and why to be a sex symbol you have to be an idiot.” Independent, 15 Oct 1999 /Fiona Sturges

“In Act One he is an Old-Testament Ché Guevara. In the second act we see that Samson completely misunderstands the spiritual meaning of his life. He was of the flesh – a man filled with animalistic adrenalin – and that is why he was so easily corrupted.” Lyric Opera News, Fall 2003

"I would not say “good luck,” because I don’t believe in luck. I believe in being prepared. Luck is to be in the middle of the desert dying of thirst and all of a sudden having a short shower on your head. That is good luck! But if you don’t have a glass to gather the water, you lose the water. The glass has to be prepared." Classical Singer, January 2006, C Necula

"I began to love all types of music because my mother was wise enough to introduce me to them, almost like a DJ. She made me understand that there is only good and bad music in the world. All other labels are immaterial. She moved from Beethoven to Frank Sinatra without remorse." Chicago Sun-Times, 1 Feb 2004, Debra Pickett
“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.” (Audiostreet, April 2001 / Catherine Pate)

“Tradition should be respected, but intelligently. Leaving aside the questions of taste or historical legacy, I don't see why every interpretation should always follow the same lines, without deviation. Don't you think it's a shame to lock the dramatic possibilities offered by certain characters within the same cage, however gilded?” (Verdi Arias, 2000)

Last Updated: Sunday, February 19, 2012