Viorica Cortez; "Stride la vampa"; IL TROVATORE; Giuseppe Verdi

Описание: Viorica Cortez---mezzo-soprano
Grand Orchestre Radio-Télé Luxembourg
Louis de Froment---conductor
1977 (?)
============================
"Viorica Cortez (born 26 December 1935) is a noted Romanian-born mezzo-soprano, later French by naturalisation. Starting her operatic and concert career in the mid-1960s, she went on to become one of the most prominent female performers of the 1970s and 1980s, and continued singing for many years after that.[1]

Viorica Cortez was born in Bucium, a village that is now part of Iași, into a family with Spanish origins.

Also in 1964, Cortez graduated from the Bucharest Conservatory, making her debut in a staged opera production - Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice. Next year, she won the Great "Kathleen Ferrier" Prize at the International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch.[2]
In 1967, she won the Grand Prize and the Golden Medal of the International "George Enescu" Contest in Bucharest, ending her competition itinerary. Already an established name in Romania, she toured France alongside Arta Florescu (in Aida) and made her Chorégies d'Orange debut (as Amneris from Aida). The same year, she auditioned for the first and only time in her career for Sir Georg Solti, who was looking for a Carmen in the London Royal Opera House's new production. Apparently, after hearing Cortez, he declared: "This IS the Carmen we've been looking for. We found HER". Her debut came in 1968 and, although the critics were not unanimously favorable to her, the performances were hailed as one of the season's most notable events.

By 1970, Cortez was being considered by virtually every major opera house, but for a Romanian artist, getting out of the country was a major challenge, often insurmountable. The lack of a passport and endless difficulties with the authorities were obstacles not only for her, but for every Romanian performer who hoped for an international career. Many contracts were annulled because of this issue. In the winter of 1970, Viorica Cortez was in Naples for a series of performances of Samson et Dalila opposite Mario del Monaco.

Cortez's American debut occurred in 1970. She performed in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and New York, where she first appeared alongside Martina Arroyo in Verdi's Messa da Requiem in Carnegie Hall. Both La Scala and the Metropolitan scheduled her, the first in Samson et Dalila, the other in Carmen. In Milan, succeeding Shirley Verrett's Dalila, Cortez was asked by the opera management and conductor Georges Prêtre to consider an extra performance, an exceptional decision of the theatre following the enormous success of her first appearance with the house. In New York, Richard Tucker, her Don Jose for the debut night, hailed her as one of the most attractive and convincing Carmens he had ever sung with.

From then on, Cortez's career included the major opera houses of the world. Claudio Abbado invited her for the Verdi Requiem at La Scala, along with Plácido Domingo and Nicolai Ghiaurov. Ghiaurov was her partner for Massenet's freshly revived opera Don Quichotte, both in Paris and Chicago, the Parisian mise en scène being assigned to Peter Ustinov. .

In 1972, Cortez sang Amneris at the Arena di Verona opposite the Radames of Franco Corelli. She became a favourite of the notoriously picky audience there.
The many demanding roles that Cortez accepted through the 1970s took their toll. At the beginning of the 1980s, her voice was deteriorating, and her performances were increasingly criticized. She continued singing, sometimes to fulfill contracts that had been signed five years earlier. She was forced to cancel some performances in Avignon and Marseille, and she searched for support besides her family and her vocal trainer. She returned to the stage after a couple of months' recovery, more cautious and more balanced, having decided to abandon the tremendous turmoil of the past. She became quite selective in arranging her schedule.

At the beginning of 2001, Cortez and her husband were in a car crash near Iaşi. He was driving when they crashed violently into a tree, killing him and seriously injuring her. After almost six months of recovery, she returned to the stage (La Comtesse de Coigny and Madelon in Giordano's Andrea Chénier in Seville), determined to continue her career. Her comeback was emotionally highlighted by the Spanish press. She concentrated most of the rest of her career in Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, and Bilbao, though not neglecting offers from Italy or France. At the Gran Teatre del Liceu, she added to her repertoire a role she had been dreaming of since the 80s: The Old Countess from Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, which she reprised in Madrid (Teatro Real, 2004). Cortez is scheduled to return on stage in Cavalleria Rusticana for the 2010–2011 season of the Marseille Opera."; Wikipedia (edited)