One of the most sought after contemporary tenors will perform in a production of the State Opera for the first time. José Cura accepted the offer from the director of the National Theatre Jan Burian and director of the National Theatre Opera and the State Opera Silvie Hroncová to perform the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello on Thursday, January 29 and Tuesday, February 24, 2015. The opera will be conducted by Music Director of the State Opera Martina Leginus. In the first cast, the role of Desdemona will be sung by Eva Hornyáková and Jago by Dalibor Jenis. Pavla Vykopalová and Ivan Kusnjer will take over these roles in the following performance in February.

With this, the National Theatre is fulfilling its promise to offer its subscribers the greatest experiences including stars of international reputation. The holders of the package ´Světové operní hity´ will have the greatest pleasure from the performance on February 24, 2015. Ticket sales for both performances go on sale today. Ticket prices range from CZK 690 CZK to 1950 CZK.

One of the last performances of the famous tenor and conductor includes the character Dick Johnson at the Vienna State Opera in September this year. His greatest success, however, was with Otello, where in the past two years he has sang in Buenos Aires, Vienna, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York under the baton of Semyon Bychkov and the Deutsche Oper Berlin with conductor Donald Runnicles and direction by Andreas Kriegenburg.

During the beginning of this season, the State Opera introduced several debuts in the leading roles of its repertory productions: Yukiko Šrejmová Kinjo as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Vincent Schirrmacher appeared as the Duke in the same production. Eva Hornyáková shone as Violetta Valéry in Verdi's La traviata, the role of Rusalka starred Alžběta Poláčková, the new Rosina in The Barber of Seville was performed by Michaela Kapustová and Christina Vasileva will return to the role of Leonora after three years. The premiere of Strauss's Salome last week has also received extraordinary reviews with Gun-Brit Barkmin performing the title role, musical preparation by Heiko Matthias Förster and directed by Mariusz Treliński.

The performance of José Cura in the production of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello, directed by Dominic Neuner will take place in Prague thanks to the support of Bohemian Heritage Fund.