There was an interview with Cortes in the newspaper
www.abendblatt.de/hamburg/persoenlich/article206850855/Gardar-Thor-Cortes-Das-Phantom-das-aus-Island-kommt.htmlTranslated with Google translator:
Gardar Thor Cortes: The Phantom that comes from Iceland
Photo: Andreas Laible / HAWhen riding the singer reflects on his childhood. The artist feels very comfortable in Hamburg - although it lacks the homeland.
Particularly happy Gardar Thor Cortes looks when he tells of stinking fish. "That's so Christmassy for me," says the Icelander. He speaks of Käst Skata, a traditional dish that comes in his home on 23 December on the table. It is fermented skate, which gives off a pungent smell of ammonia. To outsiders, not exactly enticing. But Cortes thus combines beautiful memories. "It really stinks everywhere, so stinky," he says in a charming mix of German and English and laughs.
Straight is the 41-year-old - very celebrated - as phantom protagonist on the stage of the operetta house. In "Love Never Dies - Phantom 2", the sequel to the classic musical, he finds after ten years his beloved Christine again and she wants to win this time finally for themselves. Part of the production is the characteristic facial mask that bears the tenor - most viewers would therefore not recognize him on the street. No problem for the artist, who was elected in Iceland twice for "Sexiest Man Alive".
"This role is so tricky, because it requires a vocal span, very challenge me," says Cortes. "Just so I can enjoy them so much." The result is well received not only the audience, the critics has convinced Cortes with his singing.
No wonder, is there a singer on the musical stage, who comes from a very musical family. The father is also tenor, conductor and opera to founder, the mother is a pianist. Already at his school in Reykjavík Cortes started his first-class vocal training, which later led him to conservatories in Vienna and London.
The musical genes seem to prevail on. To learn Kormakur, the five year-old son of Cortes, already the piano and loves all kinds of music. "That must he have of me to prepare for my role, I like to hear depending on the mood the most different songs - everything except heavy metal," says Cortes.
Every four weeks the little lives with him; accompanied by Cortes' mother he remains then a month in Hamburg. Patchwork between two countries. The other half of the time he lives with his mother. "It's beautiful to have him with me. When I go to the theater for the presentation of the subway in the early evening, his grandmother stays with him. Without them it would not work."
Cortes sounds grateful when he talks about this construct. An Icelandic tenor part-time Daddy in Eimsbüttel. Part of an artist's life with commitments around the world.
He could however turn no Icelandic Web-Radio, says Cortes. "Then I get really homesick. Otherwise I feel incredibly comfortable and at home in Hamburg and in my apartment in Eimsbüttel." There go here often similar to as in Iceland, he says: "The people are nice, there are a lot of fish, and it rains more frequently."
Only one thing did not Hamburg offers gentle green hills and meadows where graze the famous Iceland horses. "To a child in Iceland is riding this," said Cortes, who does not hold any own horses longer just for lack of time. That he visited the Iceland horse farm in Klövensteen today, it would be all the more more. "There are very special animals to ride well and very loving with their five gaits."
The gelding Skjanni he understood right away, like the animal follows him through the stable and outside. Behind the farmstead extend deep green meadows, on the horizon is a forest to see. "Sure, I think with such a sight at my home. But I do not miss the country, but my friends and family, because that make a place yes to home," says Cortes.
As stated, the bond with his parents, it becomes clear as he once does not know how with a description. It goes back to the rotten fish to the festival on Vorweihnachtstag. "Þorláksmessa" it says, it speaks of Cortes cheerfully gurgling, only asks his mother, then his father on the phone, what kind of fat exactly the fish specialty'll still served the same. Nobody knows. "It does not matter in any case the fork is covered by a greasy, hard layer, if you have eaten a morsel," he says, looking at the idea of very satisfied.
The only phantom pain: The performances do not allow him to travel at Christmas to the family to Iceland. That is why in 2015 for Gardar Cortes neither horse nor scruffy skates. He remains for the musical family. With or without the mask.