Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, February 2,  2004

ORANGES anyone? The annual Orange Festival started last weekend in Ciudad Colón, west of San José, and continues through Sunday. In addition to cultural activities and art booths, area farmers will show off their fruit crops, including limes, grapefruit, mandarins, pineapples and, of course, oranges. Tico Times Photo

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Art Classes
Classes open to everyone older than 6, registration Feb. 2-4, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Casa del Artista School, west side of the cemetery in Guadalupe. Info: 234-1233.


Registration for Youth Film Festival
Registration of works for the First Youth Film Festival, scheduled for March 18-21. Can include documentary, fiction and video art, and must be registered between Feb. 2-20 at the Centro Costarricense de Producción Cinematográfica, Ca. 11, Av. 9 I San José. Info: 223-0610, 223-0610.

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Child Advocate Harris Cleared of
Criminal Charges in Guatemala
By Robert Goodier
rgooder@ticotimes.net

The Guatemalan criminal court on Friday cleared Bruce Harris, director of child advocacy group Casa Alianza, of all charges of character defamation, perjury and slander against Guatemalan adoption lawyer Susana Laraca Saracho de Umaña.

In a 1997 press conference in Guatemala, Harris named Saracho and 16 others as responsible for irregularities in the booming international adoption business in that country. Adoption generates an estimated $60 million annually -- $15,000 to $20,000 per child sent to parents abroad.

Harris had accused Saracho of abusing her position of political power to circumvent the paperwork involved in her international adoption firm, one that reportedly exports an average of 10 babies per month (TT, Jan. 23).

Harris, who lives in Costa Rica, appealed the charges for seven years before traveling to Guatemala to appear in court for the case, which began Jan. 22.

"It's not me who has won this case," Harris told the press. "It's all the people who want to talk about the social problems that affect children in this country. And unfortunately, there are many such problems."

Pavarotti: Forgettable Music
At a Night to Remember
By Dorothy MacKinnon
Special to The Tico Times

The hugely anticipated Luciano Pavarotti concert met with an initially icy reception Saturday night in the National Stadium. Although the stars shone bright over La Sabana Park, the cold night air had already chilled the approximately 27,000 concertgoers huddling for more than an hour on hard stadium seats.

Pavarotti's "warm-up" numbers did nothing to dispel the chill. The great tenor spent the first half of the concert clearing his throat, while making short vocal forays into mostly uninspiring songs, missing cues - and even a note - along the way, and generally giving a lackluster performance.

Lovely Simona Todaro, clutching a shawl tightly for warmth, sang valiantly but her husky soprano didn't have much memorable material to work on, except for one stirring aria from Turandot late in the program.

What should have been a highlight - three songs from La Bohême, including a Todaro/Pavarotti duet - turned into irony of operatic proportions when Pavarotti's Rodolfo began coughing instead of the consumptive Mimi.

Adding to the malaise was a tinny sound system marred by a motor hum to the right of the stage, three blurry "minitron" screens and camera work that did little to make the stage scene interesting or even focus on the right performer. The audience clapped politely, but by intermission, there was no joy in the National Stadium.

Even if his glory days as a concert singer are over, Pavarotti's showmanship slowly surfaced to save the show. Anchored like an ocean liner at center stage, with the white prow of his massive shirt front jutting out, Pavarotti barely moved a muscle. But he wheedled and charmed the audience musically, first with an unprogrammed "Ave Maria," sentimentally dedicated to Costa Rica's First Lady and all the children of Costa Rica. Motherhood again hit a receptive target with a suitably agonized version of Mascagni's "Addio alla madre." As the pathetic clown, Pagliacci, Pavarotti at least seemed in tune with his material.

But it wasn't until the last three scheduled numbers that the Italian charmer finally reached his forte, beginning with the popular "Chitarra Romana," picking up speed with a forceful "La mia canzone al vento" and ending with a soaring "Mattinata."

Whether from relief at being able to stand up and clap to get warm, or from a determination to coax as many encores as possible, the audience leapt up. The assemblage was rewarded, first with the crowd-pleasing "Granada," followed by the cheery champagne toast scene from La Traviata in which Pavarotti, Todaro and the audience took turns singing the chorus. Pavarotti finished, masterfully, with his signature "O Sole Mio," which brought the house down and left a lot of people happy. A fireworks display ensured more oohs and ahs, as the audience herded out of the stadium around 10:30 p.m.

One indisputable highlight of the concert - and a point of national pride - was the impeccable accompaniment performed by the 65 Costa Rican musicians who make up the budding Orquesta Filarmónica. In his Panama concert last week, Pavarotti was accompanied only by his long-time friend and pianist, Leone Magiera, who led the Philharmonic in this program.

On the logistical side, concert sponsor Credomatic did an excellent job of organizing and making the concert accessible to both high-flying VIPs and $10-ticket buyers. Orderly lines for the unnumbered seats snaked around the stadium from noon on. Once inside the stadium, ticketholders were politely shepherded to their seats by more than 400 of the bank's specially trained employees.

Credomatic General Manager José Ignacio Cordero opened the concert with a moving speech that articulated the pride that many Costa Ricans feel in the wake of this world-class concert. It may not have been a great event musically, but it was a landmark cultural event for the country, justifying Credomatic's proud claim: "What nobody ever dared to dream, Credomatic has made possible."