The legendary Spanish tenor, Jose Carreras, marked his 70th birthday on December 5. Quite a long career even for an operatic star of his caliber. “I’ve made up my mind to step down. Although I’m still in shape, physically and on stage, I know it is time. I’m going on a farewell concert tour, visiting as many places I’ve toured with concerts over the past 46 years as I can,” he said in a recent interview.
Jose Carreras has performed with other noted soloists and orchestra conductors on almost all major stages across the world. He boasts over 150 music records.
In his book Singing From The Soul: An Autobiography, Jose Carreras divides his life into two periods: before July 16, 1987, and afterward; that he learned the shattering news about his leukemia from Dr. Jean Bernard in Paris, when everyone was celebrating the French National Day (the Storming of the Bastille, marked on July 14); that it was either hard treatment or death in a matter of days, maybe within a month; that he tugged at his hair and saw his hand with a thick lock of hair...
Followed chemotherapy which he called “my Chornobyl” and the man kept asking himself “Why?” Was it the price he had to pay for all those long and happy years? Miracles do happen and after a year of battling with death, he won. He made his first appearance on stage in Cherubini’s Medea, with Montserrat Caballe, and it was standing applause! He had overcome his disease and his tenor was its usual enchanting self.
Jose Carreras established a foundation to help combat leukemia (Jose Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucemia). In 1990, together with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, they staged the first Three Tenors concert in the Baths of Caracalla, in Rome, on the eve of the FIFA World Cup Finals. Their performance broadened the traditional opera horizons and the three singers became living legends. Project Three Tenors was destined to gather large cheering audiences across the world until 2003.
His repertoire boasts leading parts in over 60 operas, including La Boheme, Tosca, Werther, Don Carlos, Carmen, La forza del destino, Pagliacci, L’elisir d’amore, and Un ballo in maschera. He has performed a total of more than 600 songs, ranging from baroque to contemporary music, appearing before the world’s most prestigious audiences.
Jose Carreras has performed twice in Kyiv, each time playing to packed houses. In 1999, it was the Concert of the Century at the Ukraina Palace, where he sang arias from popular operas and operettas together with a local guest star, a young singer by the name of Olha Mykytenko (his initiative), then a soloist with the National Opera of Ukraine, now a world operatic star.
This time he will once again perform at the Ukraina Palace on December 17, and at the Opera House of Odesa on December 20. He will be accompanied by the State Academic Symphony and Variety Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by David Gimenez (he has accompanied Jose Carreras over the past several years). As usual, the repertoire will include operatic hits.
