José Carreras is one of the greatest tenors of our time, combining a remarkable voice with dramatic stage presence and captivating charm. Born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1946, he studied at the Conservatory in his native city. His début there was in Verdi's opera Nabucco. Having won the Giuseppe Verdi competition in Parma, he sang in a number of opera houses in Italy, and also in Paris.
In 1972 he made his American début with the New York City Opera, as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madam Butterfly. Engagements followed in a number of American cities and in 1974 his début at The Metropolitan Opera was as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca. In the same year he sang Alfredo in Verdi's Traviata at Covent Garden. In 1976 he sang the name part in Verdi's Don Carlo at Salzburg.
He had great success and was in demand all over the world when, in 1987, at the peak of his career, he was struck down by leukaemia. Given a poor chance of survival, after extensive and debilitating treatment, he conquered his illness and returned to singing with a series of concerts in 1990. He has formed a Foundation supporting leukaemia sufferers to which a great proportion of his concert fees is now donated.
The following year, having thought he might never regain the strength to sustain a leading operatic r├┤le, he returned triumphantly to Covent Garden in Verdi's Stiffelio. He now continues to perform both on the concert platform and the stage.
At its best his voice had a great sweetness and lyrical quality. Latterly, perhaps with age and the more dramatic parts he has attempted, it has developed a slightly rougher more spinto quality. His interpretation of lieder and the folksongs of his own country is delicate and perceptive. In concerts and recordings he frequently crosses perceived boundaries between the classical repertoire and more popular material, reaching out to wider audiences.
His Three Tenors popular concerts with Domingo and Pavarotti have had worldwide success. He has also achieved a prodigious recording output.
