José Carreras

José Carreras stands among the most acclaimed voices in modern opera, renowned above all for his role in the Three Tenors alongside Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.

He entered the world on December 5, 1946, in Barcelona’s working-class neighborhood of Sants. His talent surfaced early; as a boy he mimicked the recordings of Mario Lanza and Giuseppe di Stefano, and at age eleven he stepped onto the stage of the Gran Teatro del Liceo for his first operatic appearance, taking the narrator’s part in Manuel de Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show. While pursuing a chemistry degree at university in hopes of entering the family cosmetics business, he kept up his vocal studies. Victory at the International Verdi Singing Competition in Parma, Italy, ultimately redirected him toward a life on the stage.

Carreras stepped onto the international platform in 1971 with a London Festival Hall performance of Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. The following year he sang his first Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New York City Opera. His Metropolitan Opera bow arrived in 1974 as Cavaradossi in Tosca; that same season he also appeared at London’s Covent Garden, the Vienna Staatsoper, and Milan’s La Scala in Un ballo in maschera. In 1976 Herbert von Karajan invited him to sing Verdi’s Requiem at the Salzburg Easter Festival, initiating a deep artistic partnership that produced numerous performances and recordings. Across his career Carreras committed more than fifty complete operas and forty classical and popular recital programs to disc.

For the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in his hometown of Barcelona he served as musical director of both the opening and closing ceremonies. He also released the memoir José Carreras, Singing from the Soul, which recounted his struggle with leukemia. In 2009 he withdrew from opera yet continued to give occasional recitals.