Cura, who was a protégé of Plácido Domingo, takes on three different roles, in fact - conductor and composer, as well as singer, and will perform arias from Leoncavallo's opera "I pagliacci", Mascagni's opera "Cavalleria rusticana" and Cilea's opera "Adriana Lecovreur".

"It's the most magnificent and inexplicable feeling to travel to the other side of the world and perform with my very own songs. Pieces that I've grown up with," Cura said.

The Estonian premiere will also feature Cura's own guitar concerto "Concierto para un Resurgir", which was created during the coronavirus pandemic and carries a hope that the still life suffered by live music will end soon. "Let the idea of the creation remain a tribute to those who show honesty and sincerity in times of confusion," Cura said.

José Cura attained international renown in the second half of the 1990s. His powerful tenor voice reached the stages of the world's top opera houses, and first appeared before Estonian audiences at the Saaremaa Opera Days in 2011, where he and Aile Asszony captivated even the harshest critics.

In September 208, he staged Puccini's "La fanciulla del West" with the national opera, and was director, conductor, stage and lighting artist of the production, giving an interview to ERR News at that time.

His son is British-Argentine actor Ben Cura ("Gun Shy", "Silent Witness", "Postcards from London").

Monika-Evelin Liiv, who lives in Finland and sings mainly in London and France, began her music studies at the Tõrva Song Studio and continued in the Tõnu Bachmann singing class of the Georg Ots Music School. Liiv has sung as a guest at the Estonian National Opera, the Royal London Opera, the Finnish National Opera and the Israeli Opera. Estonian audience last heard her at the Ain Anger anniversary gala held at the Saaremaa Opera Days this year.

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