Jose Carreras

José María Carreras Coll (Barcelona, December 5, 1946) is a Spanish singer, composer and conductor. He is known for his interpretations of works by Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini and for being part of the trio The Three Tenors , along with Italian Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo from Madrid. In 1988 he created the Josep Carreras Leukemia Foundation, dedicated to curing leukemia, which he himself suffered from. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia in 1984 and the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1991.

Biography

Carreras demonstrated his musical aptitudes as a child. He sang to the passengers of the ship in which he moved to Buenos Aires, where he lived with his family in 1951, in the city of Villa Ballester. They lived there for a year and then returned to Spain. At the age of eight she gave her first public performance by singing La donna è mobile on Spanish radio. At the age of eleven he appeared for the first time at the Barcelona Liceo as a young tenor in the role of narrator in Manuel de Falla's opera El retablo de Maese Pedro and in a small role in the second act of La boheme.

During his teens, Carreras had studied chemistry before studying at the Liceo Superior Conservatory of Music. He made his debut in 1970 in Barcelona as Ismael in Nabucco and in the opera Norma , drawing the attention of soprano Montserrat Caballé, who starred in the work. Caballé invited him to sing in the production of Lucrezia Borgia, the first great success of Carreras. He sang with Caballé again in 1971 performing Maria Stuarda in London. The two singers have coincided in various works later.

In 1972 he made his American debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. In 1973 he made his debut in London, and in 1974 in Vienna performing La Traviata . At the age of 28, Carreras had already sung 24 different operas. In 1978 he performed Don Carlo at the Salzburg Festival, under the direction of Karajan.

In 1973 he made his debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires as Alfredo in La Traviata; he returned to Colón in 1987 for a recital with Agnes Baltsa.

In 1984 he recorded the "operatic version" from West Side Story in the role of Tony opposite the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, a version composed and conducted by Leonard Bernstein. This version had a Grammy Award in 1985.

In 1984 he received the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

In 1986 he made his debut as an actor playing the tenor Julián Gayarre in the film Romanza final (Gayarre), directed by José María Forqué.

José Carreras with a leukemia explosive during the launch of the 2009 awareness campaign.

José Carreras at the Royal Albert Hall, December 2001.

In 1987, at the height of his career, he was diagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia and doctors gave him little chance of survival. After harsh treatments that included radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and a marrow autotransplant, Carreras was able to resume his artistic career. In 1988 he founded the Josep Carreras Foundation, an organization that financially supports research against leukemia and maintains a bone marrow donor bank.

In 1990, José Carreras made his international debut in the Concierto de Los Tres Tenores, held at the Baths of Caracalla, along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. In 1991 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias of the Arts.

In 1991 he received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, together with Montserrat Caballe, Victoria de los Ángeles, Teresa Berganza, Pilar Lorengar, Alfredo Kraus and Plácido Domingo.

On September 13, 2002, a square was inaugurated in San Juan de Alicante in homage to the work carried out in the fight against leukemia.

On September 22, 2006, he inaugurated a theater that bears his name in Fuenlabrada.

On June 17, 2008, he held an act at the Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona on the occasion of his fifty years since his debut on that lyrical stage.

In 2014 he received the Medal of Honor from the Parliament of Catalonia.

In 2017 he took part in the movement for the independence of Catalonia, publicly requesting independence from Spain.

On August 4, 2022, Josep Carreras receives the medal of honor at the Castell Peralada Festival after an emotional concert at the event presented by its president Isabel Suqué.

Discography

He has recorded mainly for Philips Classics various operas: L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Juive, Tosca, La bohème, Samson et Dalila, Un ballo in maschera, La battaglia di Legnano , Il corsaro, Un giorno di regno, Stiffelio and Il trovatore.

He also recorded an album of Neapolitan songs, with the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Muller, and another of Spanish songs, with Martin Katz on piano.

In total, there are more than 120 official recordings including complete operas, as well as popular songs, film classics, Christmas songs, light music, sacred music, musicals by Andrew Lloyd Webber, tango, masses and oratorios. On these records, we can listen to it in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, English, Italian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc.