José Cura as Stiffelio

José Cura as Stiffelio
First time onstage
ROH June 1995
- 2004 September 26, 28, Zurich
- 2004 October 1, 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 19, Zurich
- 2004 November 17, 19, 21, Vienna
- 2005 March 24, 26, Zurich
- 2007 April 20, 23 Stiffelio (Verdi), London
- 2007 May 2, 5, 8, 10 Stiffelio (Verdi), London
- 2009 February 7, 10, 13, Vienna
-2010 January 11, 14, 19, 23, 26, 30, New York (the Met )
Opernhaus Zürich 2004/05

Stiffelio von Verdi. Stefano Ranzani, Cesare Lievi; mit u. a. Emily Magee, José Cura, Leo Nucci. 26. September. (Schweizer Erstaufführung)
José Cura sings Stiffelio in two different productions in 2004

First in Zurich: The Swiss premiere of Verdi's Stiffelio on September 26th, and 9 more perfomances.

The second production is in Vienna, it is a co-production with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Moshinsky production. (Video/DVD with José Carreras & Catherine Malfitano from ROH 1993). Only 3 performances in Vienna, on November 17, 19 and 21.

Stiffelio is one the neglected operas by Giuseppe Verdi. Because of the plot of a protestant priest and his adulterous wife it was not what the sensors wanted. The changes the sensors wanted was griveous for Giuseppe Verdi. It was performed but never in Verdi's lifetime as he intended it. Verdi reworked Stiffelio into Aroldo, a much weaker work. Stiffelio is probably the opera that is most Verdi of them all (my intepretation)

Stiffelio Première: Trieste, Teatro Grande, November 16th, 1850.

On November 17, 2004 (Stiffelio, Wiener Staatsoper) it is 154 years and 1 day after the première in Trieste, Italy


José Cura sang it first in the first Verdi Festival in ROH, London (June 1995). And he sang Stiffelio in the Swiss first Stiffelio on Sept 26, 2004 in Zurich.
Clive Barda/PAL