José Carreras

"Josep Carreras i Coll" (born December 5, 1946, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain), better known as José Carreras, is a Spanish Catalan tenor. One of the most prominent opera singers of his generation, and particularly eminent in the operas of Verdi and Puccini, his career has encompassed over 60 roles on stage and in the recording studio. He gained fame with a wider audience as one of The Three Tenors along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a series of mass concerts that began in 1990 and continued until 2003. [A further concert was to have taken place on June 4, 2005 in Monterrey, Mexico. Although, 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.] Carreras is also known for his humanitarian work as the president of the José Carreras International Leukemia 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.

Biography

Early years

The youngest of three children, Carreras was born in Sants, a working class district in Barcelona, Spain. [ [http://www.bcn.es/sants-montjuic/imatges/carrers/galileu/placa_carreras.jpgPlaque placed by the city of Barcelona on the street where Carreras was born] ] In 1951, his family emigrated to Argentina in an unsuccessful search for a better life. However, within a year they had returned to Sants where Carreras was to spend the rest of his childhood and teenage years.

, often locking himself in the family's bathroom when they became exasperated with his impromptu concerts. [ Carreras, J. Op. Cit. p. 85] 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 8, he also started taking music lessons at Barcelona's Municipal Conservatory. At the age of 8, 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" [ José Carreras - A Life Story, 1993, Decca, EAN: 0044007115435. (Originally produced by Iambic Productions for broadcast on The South Bank Show, it won an International Emmy Award in 1992 for outstanding documentary programme.)] . On January 3, 1958, at the age of 11, he made his debut in Barcelona's great opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, singing the boy soprano role of Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's "El retablo de Maese Pedro". A few months later, he sang for the last time as a boy soprano at the Liceu in the second act of "La Bohème". Throughout his teenage years, he continued to study music, moving on to the Conservatori 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 'back-up ' career, he also entered the University of Barcelona to study chemistry, but after two years he left the university to concentrate on singing.

1970s and 1980s

Juan Ruax encouraged Carreras to audition for what was to become his first tenor role at the Liceu, Flavio in "Norma", 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 fellow Catalan, Montserrat Caballé. She asked him to sing Gennaro with her in Donizetti's "Lucrezia 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 of "Maria Stuarda" in London's Royal Festival Hall, again with Caballé singing the title role. Caballé was instrumental in promoting and encouraging his career for many years, appearing in over 15 different operas with him, while her brother and manager, Carlos Caballé, was also Carreras's manager until the mid-1990s. During the 1970s Carreras's career progressed rapidly. In late 1971, he won first prize in Parma's prestigious Voci Verdiane competition which led to his Italian debut in "La bohème" at the Teatro Regio di Parma on 12 January, 1972. Other major house debuts followed - the Vienna Staatsoper in 1974, as the Duke of Mantua in "Rigoletto"; London's Royal Opera House in 1974, as Alfredo in "La traviata"; the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1974, as Cavaradossi in "Tosca"; and La Scala, Milan in 1975, as Riccardo in "Un ballo in maschera". By the age of 28, he had already sung the tenor lead in 24 different operas in both Europe and North America, and had an exclusive recording contract with Philips, which resulted in valuable recordings of several less often performed Verdi operas, notably "Il Corsaro", "I due Foscari", "La battaglia di Legnano", "Un giorno di regno", and "Stiffelio". labels. [ Recordings from this era have appeared in the sound tracks of several films, including "Only You", 1994, directed by Norman Jewison ('Libiamo nei lieti calici' from "La traviata"); "Hoodlum", 1997, directed by Bill Duke ('E lucevan le Stelle' from "Tosca"); "Bats", 1999, directed by Louis Morneau (excerpts from "Lucia di Lammermoor")] 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 was Herbert Von Karajan. [Matheopoulos, H.: 1989, "Bravo - The World's Great Male Singers Discuss Their Roles", Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp. 49-50] He first sang under Karajan in the Verdi Requiem at Salzburg on 10 April, 1976, with their final collaboration in a 1986 production of "Carmen", again at Salzburg. With Karajan's encouragement, he increasingly moved towards singing heavier lirico-spinto roles, including "Aïda", "Don Carlos", and "Carmen", which some critics have said were too heavy for his natural voice and may have shortened his vocal prime. (See the section on Carreras's voice.) . It was during the filming of "La bohème" in Paris that he was found to be suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia and given a 1 in 10 chance of survival. However, he recovered from the disease after undergoing a gruelling treatment involving chemotherapy, radiation therapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. 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 in "Medea" (Merida, 1989) and in the world premiere of Balada's "Cristóbal Colón" (Barcelona, 1989)

1990 - present

The 1990s continued to see Carreras performing on the operatic stage in "Carmen" and "Fedora" and making role debuts in "Samson et Dalila" (Peralada, 1990), Verdi's "Stiffelio" (London, 1993), and Wolf-Ferrari's "Sly" (Zurich, 1998). However, his opera performances became less frequent as he increasingly devoted himself to concerts and recitals. His final performance in a fully-staged opera was on July 12, 2002 in Tokyo, where he reprised the title role in "Sly", while his final operatic performances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the opera house where his career began, were in "Samson et Dalila" (March 2001). In 1990 the first Three Tenors concert, took place in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals. It was originally conceived to raise money for Carreras's leukemia foundation and as a way for his colleagues, Plácido Domingo and Luciano 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. [In the episode The Doll in the Seinfeld television series, Seinfeld and his friends can remember the names of Pavarotti and Domingo, but constantly forget the name of Carreras and instead repeatedly refer to him as “the other guy.” The exception is the character Bob "The Maestro" Cobb, who refers to him as his idol and to his fellow tenors, Luciano Pavarotti and Plácido Domingo, as "those two other guys." ] It is estimated that over a billion people around the world watched the television broadcast of the 1994 Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles. ['The Three Tenors in Paris', [http://www.thirteen.org/threetenors/program.html WNET] , 1998 ] 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. ["Guinness World Records 2000 Millennium Edition" ISBN 0851120989] The early 1990s also saw Carreras serving as the Musical Director for the opening and closing ceremonies of 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, and performing in a world-wide concert tour in tribute to his first singing hero, Mario Lanza. Carreras's recording and concert repertoire has now moved almost entirely into Neapolitan songs, the light classical genre, and 'easy-listening'. [e.g. "Around the World" (2001) UPC:685738579822; "Malinconia d'amore" (2002) UPC:028947468929; "Energia" (2004) UPC:099923766926] He has also increasingly performed and recorded with artists from outside the classical music world, such as Diana Ross, Lluis Llach, Peter Maffay, Udo Jürgens, Klaus Meine, Charles Aznavour, Kim Styles, Sarah Brightman, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Debbie Harry, Majida El Roumi, and Giorgia Fumanti.

Humanitarian work

. 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 leukemia through scholarships and research grants.
*Campaigns to increase bone marrow and cord blood donation for leukemia 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 in Leipzig 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 for UNESCO.

Awards and distinctions

Carreras has received numerous awards and distinctions for both his artistic and humanitarian work. These include: Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier dans l'Ordre de la Légion d'Honneur de la République Française; Gran Croce di Cavaliere and Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana; Großes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich; the Cruz de Oro del Orden Civil de la Solidaridad Social from Queen Sofia of Spain, The Prince of Asturias Prize, and the Bundesverdienstkreuz from the Federal Republic of Germany. On February 23, 2004, the Austrian Post Office issued a 1€ stamp to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper.

He has Honorary Doctorates from the University of Barcelona and Miguel Hernández University (Spain); Napier, Loughborough and Sheffield universities (United Kingdom); the Mendeleev Russian University of Chemistry and Technology (Russia); the University of Camerino (Italy); Rutgers University (United States); the University of Coimbra (Portugal); the National University of Music Bucharest (Romania); Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany); and most recently, the University of Pécs (Hungary).

In Spain the central plaza in Sant Joan d'Alacant bears his name, as do two theatres - the Auditori Josep Carreras in Vila-seca (near Tarragona) and The Teatro Josep Carreras in Fuenlabrada. [ [http://www.vila-secamusica.info/contingut/programacio_auditori_cat.htm Patronat Municipal de Música de Vila-seca] ; [http://www.sanjuandealicante.es/noticia.asp?id=320 Ajuntament de Sant Joan d'Alacant] ; [http://www.ayto-fuenlabrada.es/index.do?MP=2&MS=95&MN=3&TR=C&IDR=505 Ayuntamiento de Fuenlabrada] ]

Family

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 the Spanish Civil War, and when the Franco 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 only 18 affected him greatly. [ Carreras, J. Op. Cit. p. 98] In "José Carreras: A Life Story", he said that "even now, every time I go on stage, I always, always, have a quick thought for her." ["José Carreras - A Life Story", 1993, Decca Records/Iambic Productions] 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. Carreras's nephew, David Giménez Carreras, is a conductor and Director of the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès. [ [http://www.davidgimenez.com The official web site of David Giménez Carreras] ] He has conducted many of Carreras's concerts since the late 1990s as well as his opera performances in "Sly" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in June 2000. [ The 2000 performance of "Sly" at the Gran Teatre del Liceu is available on the Koch/Schwann label 3-6449-2]

Voice

. [ Michael Oliver, "Gramophone Magazine", August 1993]

According to several critics [e.g. John Freeman in his review of the 1976 "Tosca" recording in "Opera News", April 9, 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] his assumption of the heavier spinto roles such as "Andrea Chenier", Don José in "Carmen", "Don Carlo", and Alvaro in "La 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. The "Daily Telegraph" wrote of his 1984 "Andrea Chenier" at London's Royal Opera House: "Switching effortlessly from the lyric poet Rodolfo in "La Bohème" a few weeks ago to the heroic poet Chenier, the Spanish tenor's vocal artistry held us spellbound throughout." [quoted in Matheopoulos, H.: 1989, "Bravo - The World's Great Male Singers Discuss Their Roles", Victor Gollancz Ltd.] Of his 1985 performance in "Andrea Chenier" at La Scala (preserved on DVD), Carl Battaglia wrote in "Opera 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." [Battaglia, C: "Opera News", December 1985, p. 50] However, Carl H. Hiller's review of the La Scala performance in "Opera" 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. [Hiller, C. H., "Opera Magazine" (UK), August 1985, p. 923.]

elected recordings

Listed below 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. The complete list of recordings through 1999 is available on Carreras's official web site (see External links).

Complete operas

*Bizet: "Carmen" (Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, Leona Mitchell, Samuel Ramey, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine) DVD Deutschegrammophon 73000
*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 Chenier" (José Carreras, Piero Cappuccilli, Eva Marton, Nella Verri, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly) DVD Kultur ISBN 0-7697-8050-4
*Halévy: "La Juive" (June Anderson, Julia Varady, José Carreras, Philharmonia Orchestra, Antonio 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
*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: "Madama Butterfly" (Mirella Freni, Teresa Berganza, José Carreras, Juan Pons, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli) CD Deutschegrammophon 423 5672
*Puccini: "Tosca" (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 464 7292
*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 Patané) 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

Recitals, sacred music and cross-over

*Bernstein: "West Side Story" (Kiri Te Kanawa, José Carreras, Tatiana Troyanos, Kurt Ollmann, Marilyn Horne, Leonard Bernstein) CD Deutschegrammophon 457 1992
*Puccini: "Messa di Gloria" (José Carreras, Hermann Prey, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Scimone) CD Erato 48692
*Ramirez: "Misa Criolla", "Navidad Nuestra" CD Philips 420955
* Verdi: "Messa da Requiem" (Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras, José Dam, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan) CD Deutschegrammophon 439 0332
* Various: "Ave Maria" (José Carreras, 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, Lehar, 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 from "Aida", "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

Notes and references

*Matheopoulos, H., "The Great Tenors: From Caruso to the Present", 1999, London: Laurence King Publishing.
*Osborne, R., "Conversations with Karajan", 1991, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*Taylor, S. and Pullen, R., "Montserrat Caballé - Casta Diva", 1994, London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.Spanish language bibliography
*Alier, R., "El Trobador - Retrat de Josep Carreras", 2007, Barcelona: Edicions Dau. ISBN 9788493522858
*Nidal, P., "Carreras, La Pasion de Vivir", 1988, Barcelona: Clip.
*Perez Senz, J., "El Placer de Cantar - Un Retrato Autobiografico", 1988, Barcelona: Ediciones de Nuevo Arte Thor.

External links

* [http://www.josepcarreras.com Josep Carreras: The Official Web Site]
* [http://www.carreras-energia.com Official website dedicated primarily to Carreras's 2004 CD "Energia"]
* [http://www.fcarreras.es/ Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia] - the official web site for Carreras's leukemia foundation with versions in Catalan, Spanish and English.
* [http://www.carreras-stiftung.de Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung] - the official web site for the German branch of Carreras's leukemia foundation.
*imdb name|0007168
* [http://www.jcarreras.com/artichom.htm The Unofficial José Carreras Web Site] - a large data base of media articles and reviews dating from 1970 to 2002.
* [http://www.carrerascaptures.de/schedule/schedule.htm The José Carreras Timeline] 1958 - 2004.
*Complete performance records at [http://www.jcarreras.homestead.com/CarrerasMetRecord.html The New York Metropolitan Opera] and [http://www.jcarreras.homestead.com/CarrerasScalaRecord.html La Scala]