reprises the role in Zurich in the 2006/2007 season and will again in 2007/2008. From Zurich, Cura traveled to Vienna to star in Le Villi, and conduct Madame Butterfly at the Vienna State Opera. In June, Cura returned to Japan to reprise the lead role in Andrea Chénier with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. His performance was greeted with enthusiastic applause led by the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, a noted opera lover. Cura's summer took an unexpected turn when he arrived in Verona for the first of several performances as Canio in Pagliacci: the tenor scheduled for the role of Turiddu in the double-header Cavalleria Rusticana was forced to withdraw at the last minute, leaving the Arena di Verona without a world-class tenor to sing the role. Cura responded immediately. Stepping onto the ancient Roman stones in brutal summer heat, still suffering the effects from jet-lag and trying to recall the role he had not sung in over six years, he repaid a debt of honor to the theater that first opened its arms to him in 1992. It was not an offer made lightly Cura became only the third tenor in 84 years of Arena history to undertake this daunting challenge. In mid-July, Cura traveled to Rijeka, Croatia, for a summer night of music making. Following an early September 2006 engagement in Vienna as Roberto in Le Villi, Cura traveled to Berlin to end the month in the Deutsche Oper's revival of La fanciulla del west. In October, Cura made a return to Turin to star as Calaf in an innovative staging of Turandot. Cura returned to the United States at the end of October for a series of performances at the Metropolitan Opera and two very different concerts. He first starred as Mario Cavaradossi in the lavish Franco Zeffirelli production of Tosca. Then, Cura found time during his brief stay in New York to fly to Miami as special guest of the Orquestra de São Paulo for a night of Latin-accented music. Cura also took part in the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala, a prestigious annual event that features outstanding opera singers performing arias and scenes. In a rare treat for fans of Verdi's Don Carlo, Cura reprised his acclaimed portrayal of the tortured, insecure Infant in Zurich at the end of November and then brought an entirely different Don Carlo to Vienna, where he shared the