Born inBarcelona, he made his debut on the operatic stage at 11 as Trujamán inManuel de Falla'sEl retablo de Maese Pedro, and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles, performing in the world's leading opera houses and on numerous recordings. He gained fame with a wider audience as one ofthe Three Tenors, withPlácido Domingo andLuciano Pavarotti, in a series of large concerts from 1990 to 2003.[c] He is also known for hishumanitarian work as president of theJosé Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (La Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia), which he established following his own recovery from the disease in 1988.[2]
Carreras was born inSants, a working-class district inBarcelona. He was the youngest of Antònia Coll i Saigi and Josep Carreras i Soler's three children.[3] In 1951, his family emigrated toArgentina in search of a better life. However, this move abroad proved unsuccessful, and within a year they had returned to Sants where Carreras was to spend the rest of his childhood and teenage years.[4]
He showed an early talent for music and particularly singing, which intensified at the age of six when he sawMario Lanza inThe Great Caruso.[5] The story recounted in his autobiography and numerous interviews is that after seeing the film, Carreras sang the arias incessantly to his family, especially "La donna è mobile", often locking himself in the family's bathroom when they became exasperated with his impromptu concerts.[6] At that point, his parents, with the encouragement of his grandfather Salvador Coll, an amateur baritone, found the money for music lessons for him. At first he studied piano and voice with Magda Prunera, the mother of one of his childhood friends, and at the age of eight, he also started taking music lessons at Barcelona's Municipal Conservatory.
At just eight years old, he also gave his first public performance, singing "La donna è mobile", accompanied by Magda Prunera on the piano, on Spanish National Radio. A recording of this still exists and can be heard on the video biography,José Carreras – A Life Story.[7] On 3 January 1958, at the age of eleven, he made his debut in Barcelona's great opera house, theGran Teatre del Liceu, singing the boy soprano role of Trujamán inManuel de Falla'sEl retablo de Maese Pedro. A few months later, he sang for the last time as aboy soprano at the Liceu in the second act ofLa Bohème.
Throughout his teenage years, he continued to study music, moving on to theConservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and taking private voice lessons, first with Francisco Puig and later with Juan Ruax, whom Carreras has described as his "artistic father". Following the advice of his father and brother, who felt that he needed a "backup" career, he also entered theUniversity of Barcelona to study chemistry, but after two years he left the university to concentrate on singing.
Juan Ruax encouraged Carreras to audition for what was to become his first tenor role at the Liceu, Flavio inNorma, which opened on 8 January 1970. Although only a minor role, the few phrases he sang caught the attention of the production's leading lady, the eminent soprano and fellowCatalan,Montserrat Caballé. She asked him to sing Gennaro with her inDonizetti'sLucrezia Borgia, which opened on 19 December 1970. It was his first principal adult role, and the one which he considers to be his true debut as a tenor. In 1971, he made his international debut in a concert performance ofMaria Stuarda in London'sRoyal Festival Hall, again with Caballé singing the title role. Caballé was instrumental in promoting and encouraging his career for many years, appearing in over fifteen different operas with him, while her brother and manager, Carlos Caballé, was also Carreras's manager until the mid-1990s.
Of the many conductors he worked with during this period, the one with whom Carreras had the closest artistic relationship and who had the most profound influence on his career wasHerbert von Karajan.[8] He first sang under Karajan in theVerdi Requiem atSalzburg on 10 April 1976, with their final collaboration in a 1986 production ofCarmen, again at Salzburg. With Karajan's encouragement, he increasingly moved towards singing heavierlirico-spinto roles, includingAida,Don Carlos, andCarmen, which some critics have said were too heavy for his natural voice and may have shortened his vocal prime. (See the section on Carreras'svoice.)
The 1980s saw Carreras occasionally moving outside the strictly operatic repertoire, at least in the recording studio, with recitals of songs fromzarzuela,musicals andoperettas. He also made full-length recordings of two musicals –West Side Story (1985) andSouth Pacific (1986) – both withKiri Te Kanawa as his co-star. The recording ofWest Side Story was unusual in two respects: Carreras was chosen and conducted byLeonard Bernstein. Bernstein was conducting for the first time nearly 30 years after he composed the music, anda full-length documentary was made about the recording sessions. In a now-viral clip, the star tenor had problems with the syncopated rhythms and elocution in his solo onSomething's Coming and was relentlessly corrected by Bernstein.[9] His 1987 Philips recording of the Argentine folk mass,Misa Criolla, conducted by its composer,Ariel Ramírez, brought the work to a worldwide audience. Although many of Carreras's stage performances are available on video, he also ventured into film. In 1986, he portrayed the 19th century Spanish tenorJulián Gayarre inRomanza Final (The Final Romance) and in 1987, he started working on a film version ofLa bohème directed byLuigi Comencini.
It was during the filming ofLa bohème inParis that he was found to be suffering fromacute lymphoblastic leukemia and given a 1 in 10 chance of survival. However, he recovered from the disease after undergoing a gruelling treatment involvingchemotherapy,radiation therapy and anautologous bone marrow transplant at theFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center inSeattle. Following his recovery, he gradually returned to both the operatic and the concert stage, embarking on a tour of come-back recitals in 1988 and 1989 and singing with Montserrat Caballé inMedea (Mérida, Spain 1989) and in the world premiere ofBalada'sCristóbal Colón (Barcelona, 1989).
The 1990s continued to see Carreras performing on the operatic stage inCarmen andFedora and making role debuts inSamson et Dalila (Peralada, 1990),Verdi'sStiffelio (London, 1993), andWolf-Ferrari'sSly (Zurich, 1998). However, his opera performances became less frequent as he increasingly devoted himself to concerts and recitals. His final operatic performances at theGran Teatre del Liceu, the opera house where his career began, were inSamson et Dalila (March 2001). He reprised the title role inSly in Tokyo in 2002 and in 2004 performed at theVienna State Opera in fully staged versions of the final act ofCarmen and Act 3 ofSly. In April 2014, Carreras returned to the opera stage after a ten-year absence singing the title role of Christian Kolonovits's opera,El Juez (The Judge) in its premiere at the Arriaga Theatre inBilbao. He reprised the role in August 2014 at the Festival Erl in Austria and in January 2015 at theMariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.[10]
In 1990 the firstThree Tenors concert took place in theBaths of Caracalla in Rome on the eve of the 1990FIFA World Cup finals. It was originally conceived to raise money for Carreras's leukemia foundation and as a way for his colleagues,Plácido Domingo andLuciano Pavarotti, to welcome their "little brother" back to the world of opera. However, it and the subsequent Three Tenors concerts brought Carreras a fame that went far beyond the opera house. It is estimated that over a billion people around the world watched the television broadcast of the 1994 Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles.[11] By 1999, the CD from the first Three Tenors concert in Rome had sold an estimated 13 million copies, making it the best-selling classical recording of all time.[12] Carreras is the center of a subplot in the 1996 episode "The Doll" in theSeinfeld television series, in which he is never referred to by name but instead as "the other guy" in the Three Tenors; he is erroneously referred to as being Italian (perhaps intentionally). The early 1990s also saw Carreras serving as the Musical Director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1992 BarcelonaOlympic Games, and performing in a worldwide concert tour in tribute to his first singing hero,Mario Lanza.
In an interview published inThe Times on 8 May 2009, Carreras announced that he would no longer perform principal opera roles but was still open to recitals.[15][16][17]
Carreras visiting a leukaemia patient on the cover ofAmigos de la Fundación, July 2005
Following his own recovery fromleukaemia, Carreras sought both to repay the debt he owed to medical science and to improve the lives and care of other leukaemia sufferers. On 14 July 1988, he established the Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia (known in English as the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation)[18] inBarcelona. The foundation, which publishes a tri-monthly magazine on its activities,Amigos de la Fundación, concentrates its efforts in four main areas:
Development of clinical research into the cure and treatment of leukaemia through scholarships and research grants.
Campaigns to increase bone marrow andcord blood donation for leukaemia patients requiring transplants, along with the operation of REDMO, the Spanish national registry of bone marrow donors.
Strengthening of the research and clinical infrastructures in both leading international institutions and hospitals and laboratories in the developing world.
Provision of social services to leukemia patients and their families, including free accommodation near transplant centres.
The José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation also has affiliates in the U.S., Switzerland, and Germany, with the German affiliate the most active of the three. Since 1995, Carreras has presented an annual live television benefit gala inLeipzig to raise funds for the foundation's work in Germany. Since its inception, the gala alone has raised well over€71 million. Carreras also performs at least 20 charity concerts a year in aid of his foundation and other medical related charities. He is an Honorary Member of the European Society for Medicine and the European Haematology Association, an Honorary Patron of the European Society for Medical Oncology, and a Goodwill Ambassador forUNESCO.
Honorary Medal of the city ofLeipzig on the occasion of his Leukemia Fundraiser for 2009 on 17 December 2009; awarded by the Mayor of Leipzig (unanimous decision of the town council of Leipzig).
In Spain the central plaza inSant Joan d'Alacant bears his name, as do two theatres – the Auditori Josep Carreras in Vila-seca (nearTarragona) and The Teatro Josep Carreras inFuenlabrada.[22]
Throughout his childhood in Barcelona, Carreras's father, Josep Carreras i Soler, worked as a traffic policeman. He had originally been a French teacher. However, he had fought on the Republican side during theSpanish Civil War, and when theFranco government came into power in 1939, he was no longer allowed to teach. His mother, Antonia Coll i Saigi, ran a small hair-dressing salon, where, as a child, Carreras often sang to the customers in return for pocket money. He was very close to his mother, who was convinced that he would one day be a great singer, and her death from cancer when he was 18 affected him greatly.[23] InJosé Carreras: A Life Story, he said that "even now, every time I go on stage, I always, always, have a quick thought for her."[24] In 1971 Carreras married Mercedes Pérez. They had two children: a son, Albert (born in 1972), and a daughter, Julia (born in 1978). The marriage ended in divorce in 1992. In 2006, Carreras married Jutta Jäger, but separated from her in 2011.[25] Carreras's nephew,David Giménez Carreras, is a conductor and Director of theOrquestra Simfònica del Vallès.[26] He has conducted many of Carreras's concerts since the late 1990s as well as his opera performances inSly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in June 2000.[e]
In its prime, Carreras's voice was considered one of the most beautifultenor voices of the day.[27] The Spanish critic, Fernando Fraga has described it as alyric tenor with the generosity of aspinto, having "a nobletimbre, richly coloured and sumptuously resonant". This is particularly true of the middlerange of his voice. Fraga also noted, as has Carreras himself, that even in his youth the high notes of the tenor range were always somewhat problematic for him, and became more so as his career progressed.[28] Like his idol,Giuseppe di Stefano, Carreras was also known for the beauty and expressiveness of his phrasing and for his passionate delivery.[29] These qualities are perhaps best exemplified in his 1976 recording ofTosca withMontserrat Caballé in the title role and conducted bySir Colin Davis.[30]
According to several critics[31] his assumption of the heavier spinto roles such asAndrea Chénier, Don José inCarmen,Don Carlo, and Alvaro inLa forza del destino put a strain on his naturally lyric instrument which may have caused the voice to prematurely darken and lose some of its bloom. Nevertheless, he produced some of his finest performances in those roles.
TheDaily Telegraph wrote of his 1984Andrea Chénier at London'sRoyal Opera House: "Switching effortlessly from the lyric poet Rodolfo inLa Bohème a few weeks ago to the heroic poet Chenier, the Spanish tenor's vocal artistry held us spellbound throughout."[32] Of his 1985 performance inAndrea Chénier atLa Scala (preserved on DVD), Carl Battaglia wrote inOpera News that Carreras dominated the opera "with formidable concentration and a cleverly refined vocal accent that imparts to this spinto role an overlay of intensity lacking in his essentially lyric tenor."[33] However, Carl H. Hiller's review of the La Scala performance inOpera also noted that while in the quiet phrases of the score "he could display all the tonal mellowness of which this perhaps most beautiful tenor voice of our time is capable", he had difficulty with the high loud notes, which sounded strained and uneasily produced.[34]
This list is a representative selection of notable commercial recordings from the peak years of José Carreras's career. He has an extremely large discography and videography, which also includes many performances preserved on private recordings.
Bizet:Carmen (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Leona Mitchell, Samuel Ramey, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine) DVD Deutsche Grammophon 73000
Bizet:Carmen (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli, José van Dam, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan) CD Deutsche Grammophon 410 0882
Donizetti:L'elisir d'amore (Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras, Leo Nucci, Susanna Rigacci,Domenico Trimarchi, Coro della RAI di Torino, Orchestra Sinfonica Della Rai Di Torino, Claudio Scimone) CD Philips 00289 475 4422
Donizetti:Lucia di Lammermoor (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Samuel Ramey, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Jesús López-Cobos) CD Philips 00289 470 4212
Giordano:Andrea Chénier (José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Eva Marton, Nella Verri, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly) DVD KulturISBN0-7697-8050-4
Halévy:La Juive (June Anderson, Julia Varady, José Carreras, Philharmonia Orchestra,Antonio de Almeida) CD Philips 00289 475 7629
Massenet:Werther (José Carreras, Frederica Stade,Isobel Buchanan, Thomas Allen, Robert Lloyd, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 475 7567. For details, seeWerther (Colin Davis recording)
Puccini:La Bohème (Katia Ricciarelli, José Carreras, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 442 2602
Puccini:Manon Lescaut (Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, Paolo Coni, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly) CD Decca 460-750-2
Puccini:Madama Butterfly (Mirella Freni, Teresa Berganza, José Carreras, Juan Pons, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli) CD Deutsche Grammophon 423 5672
Puccini:Tosca (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras,Ingvar Wixell, Chorus of theRoyal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 464 7292
Puccini:Turandot (Eva Marton, José Carreras, Katia Ricciarelli, John-Paul Bogart; 2008 remaster of 1983 Harold Prince video production at Vienna State Opera House, Lorin Maazel) DVD Arthaus Musik 107319
Rossini:Otello (Frederica von Stade, Nucci Condò, José Carreras, Salvatore Fisichella, Gianfranco Pastine, Samuel Ramey, Ambrosian Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, Jesús López Cobos) CD Philips 00289 432 4562. For details, seeOtello (Jesús López Cobos recording)
Saint-Saëns:Samson et Dalila (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Jonathan Summers, Simon Estes, Paata Burchuladze, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis) CD Philips 000289 475 8706
Strauss:Der Rosenkavalier (Frederica von Stade, Evelyn Lear, Ruth Welting, Jules Bastin, Derek Hammond-Stroud, José Carreras, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Edo de Waart) CD Philips 00289 442 0862. For details, seeDer Rosenkavalier (Edo de Waart recording)
Verdi:Un ballo in maschera (Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 470 5862
Verdi:Il Corsaro (Montserrat Caballé, Jessye Norman, José Carreras, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6769
Verdi:Don Carlo (José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, Fiamma Izzo D'amico, Piero Cappuccilli, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan) DVD Sony Classical 48312
Verdi:I due Foscari (José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Katia Ricciarelli, Samuel Ramey, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli), CD Philips 422426
Verdi:La forza del destino (Sesto Bruscantini, José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala,Giuseppe Patanè) CD Myto 984192
Verdi:Un giorno di regno (Jessye Norman, Fiorenza Cossotto, José Carreras, Ingvar Wixell, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6772
Verdi:I lombardi alla prima crociata (José Carreras, Ghena Dimitrova, Carlo Bii, Silvano Carroli, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala,Gianandrea Gavazzeni) DVD Kultur 2036
Verdi:Simon Boccanegra (Piero Cappuccilli, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Nicolai Ghiaurov, José van Dam, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Claudio Abbado) CD Deutsche Grammophon 449 7522
Verdi:Stiffelio (Sylvia Sass, José Carreras, Matteo Manuguerra, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli) CD Philips 00289 475 6775
Bernstein:West Side Story (with Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Kurt Ollmann, Marilyn Horne, Leonard Bernstein) CD Deutsche Grammophon 457 1992
Puccini:Messa di Gloria (with Hermann Prey, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Scimone) CD Erato 48692
Ramirez:Misa Criolla,Navidad Nuestra CD Philips 420955
Rodgers:South Pacific (with Kiri Te Kanawa, Sarah Vaughan, Mandy Patinkin, London Symphony Orchestra, Jonathan Tunick) CD Sony MK 42205
Verdi:Messa da Requiem (with Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, José Van Dam, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan) CD Deutsche Grammophon 439 0332
Various:Ave Maria (with Vienna Boys Choir, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Uwe Christian Harrer) Philips 4111382
Various:José Carreras – The Golden Years (arias and songs by Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Massenet, Bizet, Lehár, Handel, Gastoldi, Giordano, Tosti, Cardillo, Denza, de Curtis, Lara, d' Hardelot, Brodszky, Bernstein, Lloyd Webber) CD Philips 462892
Various:The Very Best of José Carreras (arias fromAida,Macbeth,Cavalleria rusticana,Pagliacci,Turandot,Don Carlo,Carmen,Faust,Roméo et Juliette,Polyeucte,Le Cid,Sappho,Hérodiade,La Juive,L'Africaine,Le Roi d'Ys,La Périchole) CD EMI 7243 5 75903 2 7
Various:Passion CD Erato (Warner)
Various:Pure Passion CD Erato (Warner)
Various:Around the world CD Wea International (Warner)
Various:Belle Epoque (Tagliaferri, Satie, Puccini, Zemlinsky, Schreker,...) CD Sony Classic (Sony Music)
Various:Mediterranean Passion CD Sony Classical (Sony Music)
Various:25 Meraviglioso CD Embassy of Music (Warner)[35]
Various:Christmas in Moscow (with Plácido Domingo, Sissel) CD Sony Classical (Sony Music)
^In thisCatalan name, the first or paternal surname is Carreras and the second or maternal family name is Coll; both are generally joined by the conjunction "i".
^A further concert was to have taken place on 4 June 2005 in Monterrey, Mexico. Although it was originally billed as a Three Tenors concert, only Carreras, Domingo and the Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández performed. Luciano Pavarotti withdrew at the last moment for health reasons.
^Recordings from this era have appeared in the sound tracks of several films, includingOnly You, 1994, directed by Norman Jewison ('Libiamo nei lieti calici' fromLa traviata);Hoodlum, 1997, directed by Bill Duke ('E lucevan le Stelle' fromTosca); andBats, 1999, directed by Louis Morneau (excerpts fromLucia di Lammermoor).
^The 2000 performance ofSly at the Gran Teatre del Liceu was released on the Koch/Schwann label.
^José Carreras – A Life Story, 1993, Decca, EAN: 0044007115435. (Originally produced by Iambic Productions for broadcast onThe South Bank Show, it won an International Emmy Award in 1992 for outstanding documentary programme.)
^Matheopoulos, H.: 1989,Bravo – The World's Great Male Singers Discuss Their Roles, Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp. 49–50.
^"2004 Summit Highlights Photo". 2004.American Academy of Achievement delegates and members gathered at Chicago's Civic Opera Building, home of the Lyric Opera, for a concert featuring internationally acclaimed tenor and 2004 guest of honor José Carreras.
^Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J. (1979)The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, p. 83.
^Fraga, F.: 'El dorado sonido del corazón',Ópera Actual nº 77, January 2005.
^Pasi, M.:'Trionfale ritorno del tenore: i loggionisti gli hanno anche consegnato una medaglia',Corriere della Sera, 11 November 1989
^Oliver, Michael.Gramophone Magazine, August 1993.
^e.g. John Freeman in his review of the 1976Tosca recording inOpera News, 9 April 1977, p. 37; 'José Carreras and Miguel Fleta' by John Steane,Opera Now, March/April 2001; 'El dorado sonido del corazón', by Fernando Fraga,Ópera Actual nº 77, January 2005.
^quoted in Matheopoulos, H.: 1989,Bravo – The World's Great Male Singers Discuss Their Roles, Victor Gollancz Ltd.
.JPG)
