Teatro Regio, at age 34, Cura debuted in Verdi's Otello, telecast live on Italian television. Under the baton of Claudio Abbado La Nazione ran the headline "José Cura: a new Otello is born!" Opera houses around the world agreed, offering Cura the opportunity to take his Moor to London, Washington, Madrid, Trieste, Munich, Buenos Aires, Nice, Paris, Vienna, Zurich, Warsaw, Tokyo, and Florence – making him one of the most eagerly sought-after Otellos of his generation. Following his Otello debut, Cura starred in Cavalleria Rusticana in Bologna, Tosca in Torre del Lago, Fedora in Vienna, and in an acclaimed Samson et Dalila in Turin. He made his first appearance as leading man at the Arena di Verona in summer of 1997 in Carmen. He headlined in a Night of the Stars Gala in London and concluded the year with a series of sensational concerts in Germany. It was followed in 1998 when he first appeared in Aida at the inaugural season of the New Imperial Theatre in Tokyo. Firmly entrenched as one of the great modern voices, in 1999 José Cura returned to Paris for Carmen Milan for La Forza del Destino and Verona for Aida (televised – the first opera ever to be broadcast live over the internet). The year ended with his debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera in Cavalleria Rusticana as only the second tenor in the Met's history to make his debut on opening night (the other having been Caruso in 1903) and at Madrid's Teatro Real in Otello conducted by his long-time friend and mentor, Maestro Luis Antonio García Navarro. 2000–2005 In 2000, José Cura sang Otello in Washington and starred as Alfredo in La Traviata a Paris a groundbreaking production staged in authentic Paris settings while being telecast live around the world. In 2001 José Cura appeared in numerous special performances and opera productions honoring the Centenary of Verdi's death, including Otello at the Wiener Staatsoper on 27 January (the date of Verdi's death), Paris' Theatre du Chatelet, London's Covent Garden, Trieste's Teatro Verdi and the Zurich Opera House. He sang in performances of Aida in Greece and Japan and created a memorable Don Carlo in Zurich. He gave two concerts with soprano Daniela Dessi celebrating Verdi's art at the Barbican Centre in London and shared the concert stage with Renato Bruson in Parma for an evening of Verdi arias and duets. Cura continued