Viorica Cortez - Career of The 1980s

Career of The 1980s

During the 1970s, Viorica Cortez went from one opera to another, across the world, singing Dalila in Paris one day, Azucena in Milan the next, and Giulietta in Chicago the following week. This intensity was about to take its toll.

At the beginning of the '80s, Cortez's voice seemed to be slowly but surely deteriorating. Critiques and objections became more and more frequent. Still, as the contracts were signed five years in advance, she had to sing. She was forced to cancel some L'Hérodiade performances in Avignon, some others in Marseille, and she searched for support besides her family and her vocal trainer. Recovering, she returned to the stage after a couple of months, more cautious, more balanced, decided to abandon the tremendous turmoil of the past. She became quite selective in arranging her schedule. For almost four years, she was rarely in Europe, due to her long-term Metropolitan engagements (Samson et Dalila - 1981, Il Trovatore, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Adriana Lecouvreur - 1982, 1983, 1984). She starred in some, star-directed productions in Paris (Nabucco, alongside Grace Bumbry and Sherrill Milnes - 1979, Jorge Lavelli's Oedipus Rex - 1979, Joseph Losey's Boris Godunov - 1980 or Sonja Frissell's Un ballo in maschera, alongside José Carreras - 1981).

In 1984, she was a vehement Klitemnestra in Regina Resnik's San Francisco Opera production of Elektra. She sang in Denver, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Bagdad, Tokyo, Osaka, and Amsterdam, but she also returned to stages such as L'Arena di Verona (La Gioconda and Aida - 1988), Grand Opera, Paris (Herodias in Richard Strauss' Salome in the fascinating mise-en-scene of her dear Jorge Lavelli), Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (Il Trovatore, La Gioconda, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Il Matrimonio Segreto - 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989), Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Un Ballo in maschera with Luciano Pavarotti - 1989). Still in 1989, she awed Paris once again, this time as La Star in Zygmund Krause's eponymous opera, directed by Jorge Lavelli. The former editor in chief of Opera International, Sergio Segalini, called her "diva assolutta".