Art show: Ebenezer Leyva
Exhibit “Icarus' Journey,” painting, through the end of August, Galería Amón, Barrio Amón, Calle 7, Avenidas 9 and 11, tel. 2223-9725. 

Mundo Loco: a Bob Marley Tribute
Reggae roots, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro. http://jazzcafecostarica.com/agenda.php.

Expresso in concert
Pop, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, Escazú.

The 18th Credomatic Music Festival showcased a performance by renowned Italian pianist Francesco Libetta at the National Theater on Saturday night in downtown San José.

The century-old theater, designed by another Italian and built in 1897, was fully buffed, and its marble, gold inlays and parquet floors shone throughout. A display of stately red calla lilies along the front of the stage gave the air of a Christmas recital that belied the nimbleness of the concert's pieces.

Libetta dedicated the first half of the performance with a slew of airy Chopin études that begged concertgoers to forget the chilly drizzle outside.

After the intermission, Libetta opened the second half of the performance and dove into a confident interpretation of a three-part Beethoven sonata. He wrapped up the concert with a work by Franz Liszt and closed with more than a couple encore pieces.

In a small comedic bit, Libetta, after receiving a bouquet during one round of applause, turned to play an encore, only to “realize” he had nowhere to place the flowers. Tucking the bouquet under his right arm, he went ahead and played an encore of swirling trills with only his left hand.

After the concert, Libetta said he enjoyed interpreting all three artists equally, while noting that some pieces were more comfortable to start out with than others, and eventually admitting a slight affinity for the “slow” Chopin pieces. The 39-year-old, from Salento, in Italy's heel, said he was enjoying his trip to Costa Rica, and was looking forward to a trip to Cahuita, on the southern Caribbean coast.

Nine-year-old Simone Antich, daughter of festival director Jordi Antich, enjoyed the opening Chopin piece, which she described as “fast and pretty,” as well as the one-handed encore. She said she looks forward to the festival and new acts every year – but added that her parents sometimes have to bribe her with chocolate to keep her awake through performances that do not end until well after her bedtime.

Both Libetta and Simone said they were looking forward to the U.S. duo Aspro Dolce's show.

Fellow attendee Emilia Castro, who singled out the Liszt as her favorite moment of the evening, said she has attended the festival for the past seven years. She said she will also go to the internationally known Tica soprano Iride Martínez' performance at the festival's closing concert on Saturday. As far as Costa Rican classical artists with worldwide recognition go, Castro said, “It's just (Martínez),” but she credited festival organizers, who are “searching for more talented artists.”

The festival, which runs through Aug. 17, is bringing classical musicians from North America and Europe to audiences throughout the country. Other festival performers, 17 in all, include the Colombian a cappella group Vocal Sin Tiempo, Berlin Brass and the Dutch group, Doelen Quartet. A full schedule can be found at the festival's Web site:

www.credomatic.com/costarica/fim2008/festival.html

By the deadline Friday, only one company offered to shoulder the new international terminal expansion at the Daniel Oduber Quirós Airport in Liberia, Guanacaste, in the northwest, according to the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT).

CORIPORT, a consortium of five national and foreign companies, turned in its bid on Thursday to the National Concessions Council. The group would design, finance, build, operate and maintain the new terminal for 20 to 25 years, should its bid be approved by the council and the Civil Aviation Administration.

The five companies in the consortium are ADC & HAS Aviation, S.A., of the United States, MMM Aviation Group, S.A., of Canada, and Costa Rican companies Brad & Tod Corporation, S.R.L., Cocobolo Inversiones, S.R.L., and Emperador Pez Espada, S.R.L.

At an estimated price of $18 million, the new terminal will be located to the east of the current facility and measure 15,000 square meters.

Should CORIPORT's bid be accepted, it would be responsible for periodic expansions of up to 5,000 square meters every five years, starting in 2014.

Work would begin on the airport as early as April 2009 and wrap up within a year, according to the council's forecast.

But the Guanacaste Tourism Chamber (CATURGUA) predicted the airport expansion would be completed much later.

Alvaro Conejo, president of CATURGUA's board of directors, said construction would begin next August and be finished by September 2010.

By Conejo's count, 20 firms had expressed interest in the Oduber expansion. Only one, CORIPORT, followed through with a bid.

The Technical Council of the Civil Aviation Authority (CETAC) reported that 365,000 people passed through the Liberia airport in 2006. That number could reach as 526,000 by 2010.

Space is not a concern in the immediate future.

“We now have space for people waiting in transit,” said Conejo, adding that 1,200 people could potentially standby in Oduber with no problem.

During peak travel season, only about 850 people circulate the airport at any one time, Conejo said.

Lawmakers have approved a United Nations treaty that protects rights of people with disabilities.

The treaty, which Costa Rica signed in March 2007, obliges the state to promote rights of "people with long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments." These include blindness, deafness and physical and developmental problems.

Under the treaty, Costa Rica must provide equal access to education, healthcare and transportation to people with disabilities. The government must promote the use of Braille and sign language and ensure that public buildings and roads are accessible to disabled people.

About 10 percent of the world's population has a disability, according to the United Nations' Web site. Some 130 countries have signed the convention, and 33 have ratified it.

The treaty will go into effect here once it is signed by President Oscar Arias and published in La Gaceta, the official government newspaper.

Costa Rica then has six months to form a committee that will oversee the treaty's implementation.