''La Juive'' (pronounced , meaning ''The Jewess'') is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.

Composition history

''La Juive'' was one of the most popular and admired operas of the 19th century. Its libretto was the work of Eugène Scribe, one of the most prolific dramatic authors of the time. Scribe was writing to the tastes of the Opéra de Paris, where the work was first performed - a work in five acts presenting spectacular situations (here the Council of Constance of 1414), which would allow a flamboyant staging in a setting which brought out a dramatic situation which was also underlined by a powerful historical subject. In addition to this, there could be choral interludes, ballet and scenic effects which took advantage of the entire range of possibilities available at the Paris Opera.

Because of the story of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work has been seen by some as a plea for religious tolerance, in much the same spirit as Meyerbeer's ''Les Huguenots'' which premiered in 1836, a year after ''La Juive'', as well as the 1819 novel ''Ivanhoe'' by Sir Walter Scott which deals with the same theme. At the time of composition, the July monarchy had liberalised religious practices in France. Meyerbeer and Halévy were both Jewish and storylines dealing with topics of tolerance were common in their operas. However, reviews of the initial performances show that journalists of the period responded to the liberalism and to the perceived anti-clericalism of Scribe's text, rather than to any specifically Jewish theme.

The libretto of ''La Juive'' is considered by some to have a goal of reconsidering the status of Jews in French society. However a closer examination of the text - with its clichéd portrayal of the Jew Eléazar as secretive, vengeful and materialistic - does not convincingly bear out this interpretation.

Performance History

The opera's first, ornate production, costing 150,000 francs, was conducted by François Antoine Habeneck. The performances of the soprano Cornélie Falcon in the title role and the dramatic tenor Adolphe Nourrit as Eléazar were particularly noticed. Nourrit had significant influence on the opera: Eléazar, originally conceived as a bass part, was rewritten for him, and it appears that it was largely his idea to end act 4, not with a traditional ensemble, but with the aria "Rachel, quand du seigneur" for which he may also have suggested the text. The production was notable for its lavishness, including the on-stage organ in Act I, the enormous supporting cast, and the unprecedentedly elaborate decor. Richard Wagner, who admired ''La Juive'', may have 'borrowed' from it the act 1 organ effect, for his 1868 opera ''Die Meistersinger''. Moreover, Eléazar's tapping at his goldsmith's work is echoed by Hans Sachs's cobbling during ''Meistersinger''.

''La Juive'' enjoyed an international success comparable to that of Meyerbeer's grand operas. The work was also used for the inaugural performance at the newly constructed Palais Garnier in Paris in 1875. The opera was produced by New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1919 as a vehicle for its star tenor, Enrico Caruso. Eléazar was the last role Caruso sang prior to his untimely death in 1921. Giovanni Martinelli succeeded Caruso in the role at the Met, and both he and Caruso recorded extracts from the opera. These are available on CD reissues.

The opera was programmed regularly until the 1930s. Modern revivals have been staged at the Vienna State Opera (1999), The Metropolitan Opera (2003), the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (2005), the Paris Opera (2007), the Zurich Opera House (2007), the Staatstheater Stuttgart (2008) and De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (2009) and the Tel Aviv (Israel) Opera. In Zurich and Tel Aviv the action was changed from the 15th century to France at the times of the late 19th century when anti-Semitism was rampant during the Dreyfus affair.

Roles

!Role	!Voice type	!Premiere Cast, February 23, 1835(conductor: François Antoine Habeneck)
Eléazar, ''a Jewish goldsmith''	tenor	Adolphe Nourrit
Rachel, ''his supposed daughter, the "Jewess" of the title''	soprano	Cornélie Falcon
Prince Léopold	tenor	Marcelin Lafont
Princess Eudoxie, ''niece of the emperor''	soprano	Julie Dorus-Gras
Gian Francesco, Cardinal of Brogni, ''President of the Council''		Nicolas Levasseur
Ruggiero, ''city provost''	baritone	Henri-Bernard Dabadie
Albert, ‘’a sergeant’’		Ferdinand Prévost
A herald	baritone	Nicolas-Prosper Dérivis
First drinker	tenor	Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol
Second drinker	bass
Officer	tenor	Trévaux
Majordomo	baritone	Hens
Executioner	baritone
Emperor Sigismund	Silent

Synopsis

The synopsis below reflects the original version of the opera. Modern performing versions often somewhat adapt this storyline for convenience.

:Place: Constance :Time: 1414

;Events before the opera begins

The following is a summary of events which took place before the first act of the opera, some of which are only revealed in the course of the action.

When he was young, the Jew Eléazar had lived in Italy near Rome and witnessed the condemnation and executions of his sons as heretics by Count Brogni. Eléazar himself was banished and forced to flee to Switzerland.

During his journey, Eléazar found a baby near death, abandoned inside a burnt-out house which turned out to be the home of the Count. Bandits had set fire to the house, attempting to kill the entire family of Brogni but unaware that the Count himself was in Rome at the time.

Eléazar took the child, a girl, and raised her as his own daughter, naming her Rachel. Brogni discovered the ruins of his house and the bodies of his family upon his return. He subsequently became a priest and later a cardinal.

At the beginning of the opera, in 1414 Rachel (now a young woman) is living with her "father" in the city of Constance. The forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund have defeated the Hussites, in battles where Prince Leopold has distinguished himself. The Council of Constance, convened by Antipope John XXIII, has been arranged to resolve Church matters. John XXIII is represented there by Cardinal Gian Francesco Brogni, who was a historical personage. His part in the story of the opera is, however, entirely fictional.

;Act 1 ''A square in the city of Constance in 1414''

Eléazar is a goldsmith. The crowd condemns him for working during a day dedicated to Church festivities. He is saved from a lynching by the arrival of Brogni, who in the process recognises Eléazar as his old adversary.

Léopold arrives in disguise as a young Jewish artist Samuel. Rachel is in love with Samuel and knows nothing of his true identity. Local laws reflect prejudice against the Jews: if a Jew and a Christian have sexual relations, the Christian is excommunicated and the Jew is killed. Léopold is thus taking a great risk in this affair, especially as he is already married to the Princess Eudoxie. The crowd returns to attack Eléazar, but 'Samuel' secretly instructs his troops to calm things down. The act closes with a grand triumphal procession.

;Act 2 ''Inside the house of Éléazar''

Rachel has invited Léopold for the Passover celebration in Eléazar's house. He is present while Eléazar and the other Jews sing their Passover prayers. Rachel becomes anxious when she notices that Léopold refuses to eat the piece of unleavened bread that she has given him. He reveals to her that he is a Christian, without telling her his true identity. Rachel is horrified and reminds him of the terrible consequences of such a relationship.

Eudoxie enters - at which Léopold hides - to order from Eléazar a valuable jewel for a present for her husband.

After Eudoxie leaves, Léopold promises to take Rachel away with him. She tries to resist, worrying about abandoning her father, but as she is about to succumb to his advances, they are confronted by Eléazar, who curses Léopold before the latter runs off.

;Act 3 ''Magnificent gardens''

Rachel, who has followed 'Samuel' to the Palace, offers her services as a lady's maid to Eudoxie. Eléazar arrives at the palace to deliver the jewel. He and Rachel recognise Léopold as 'Samuel'. Rachel declares that Leopold seduced her before the assembly and she, Eléazar and Léopold are arrested and placed in prison, on the instructions of Brogni.

;Act 4 ''A gothic interior''

Eudoxie asks to see Rachel in prison, and persuades her to withdraw her allegations. Rachel agrees; Brogni agrees to commute Léopold's sentence, and to spare Rachel and Eléazar if they convert. Eléazar at first answers that he would rather die, but then makes plans to avenge himself. He reminds the Cardinal of the fire in his house near Rome many years before and tells the Cardinal that his infant daughter did not die. He says that she was saved by a Jew and that only he knows who he is. If he dies, his secret will die with him. Brogni begs him to tell him where his daughter is, but in vain. Eléazar sings of the vengeance that he will have in dying, but he suddenly remembers that he will be responsible for the death of Rachel. The only way to save her is to admit that the Cardinal is her father and that she is not Jewish but Christian. The act ends with the opera's most famous aria, Eléazar's 'Rachel, quand du Seigneur'. At the point where he has almost persuaded himself to concede, he hears the people shouting for his death and resolves that he will never give Rachel back to the Christians.

;Act 5 ''A large tent supported by Gothic columns''

Eléazar and Rachel are brought to the gallows where they will be thrown in a cauldron of boiling water. Rachel is terrified. Eléazar explains that she can be saved if she converts to Christianity. She refuses and climbs to the gallows before him. As the people are singing various prayers, Brogni asks Eléazar if his own daughter is still alive. Eléazar says that she is and when Brogni asks where she can be found, Eléazar points to the cauldron, saying "There she is!" He then climbs to his own death while the Cardinal falls on his knees. The opera ends with a chorus of monks, soldiers and the people singing "It is done and we are avenged on the Jews!"

Recordings

1973 - Richard Tucker (Eléazar), Yasuko Hayashi (Rachel), Michèle Le Bris (Euxodie), Juan Sabate (Léopold), David Gwynne (Brogni) - live concert performance, London, cond. Anton Guadagno - Opera d'Oro CD OPD-1333.

1989 - José Carreras (Eléazar), Julia Varady (Rachel), June Anderson (Euxodie), Dalmacio Gonzalez (Léopold), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Brogni) - Ambrosian Opera Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. Antonio de Almeida - Philips CD 420 190-2.

2003 - Neil Shicoff (Eléazar), Krassimira Stoyanova (Rachel), Simina Ivan (Euxodie), Jianyi Zhang (Léopold), Walter Fink (Cardinal Brogni) - Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, cond. Vjekoslav Šutej – Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00440 073 4001

The opera's best known aria, "Rachel! Quand du seigneur", has been recorded by numerous renowned tenors, including Enrico Caruso, Giovanni Martinelli and Léon Escalais.

References

;Notes

;Sources

Macdonald, Hugh,"''La juive''", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

Category:Operas by Fromental Halévy Category:Libretti by Eugène Scribe Category:French-language operas Category:Grand operas Category:1835 operas Category:Operas Category:Operas set in Switzerland Category:Paris Opera world premieres

ca:La Juive de:La juive el:Η Εβραία (όπερα) es:La Juive fr:La Juive it:La Juive he:היהודייה nl:La Juive ru:Иудейка (опера) sv:La Juive

Neil Shicoff (born June 2, 1949) is an American Jewish opera singer and cantor known for his lyric tenor singing and his dramatic, emotional acting.

Beginnings

Neil Shicoff was born in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music, with his father, the hazzan Sidney Shicoff and others, including Franco Corelli in the early 1980s. He sang in small theatres in New York before music school, including a Don Jose in Bizet's ''Carmen'' at Amato Opera and small roles at Juilliard, and was an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 1973. His professional debut as a tenor lead in a big opera house was in the title role in Verdi's ''Ernani'', conducted by James Levine in Cincinnati in 1975.

In 1976, Shicoff made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rinuccio in ''Gianni Schicchi'' conducted by Levine. Shicoff was then engaged by the Met to sing the tenor leads in ''Rigoletto'', ''La Bohème'', ''Der Rosenkavalier'', and ''Werther'', which was to become one of his signature roles. He soon sang in the major opera houses in the U.S. and Europe, winning great notices and recording some of his roles. Shicoff experienced severe stage fright well into his career, which caused him to cancel a number of performances. He was known to be a perfectionist, carefully researching and preparing each role, both dramatically and vocally.

In 1978, Shicoff married fellow Juilliard graduate, lyric soprano Judith Haddon. After the death of his mother in 1984, Shicoff suffered emotional problems, technical vocal difficulties and increasing performance anxiety. He cancelled numerous performances, and by the end of the 1980s he had developed a reputation for unreliability.

Rebuilding his career

Shicoff continued singing at the Met for two years, but in 1991, he left America, fleeing the stresses and headlines engendered by his ongoing divorce proceeding and custody battle concerning his daughter, into a self-described European exile. He lived for three years in Berlin, then Zürich, performing throughout Europe (with a handful appearances in Buenos Aires), and he slowly rebuilt his reputation for reliability. He appeared at Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Paris Opera, Covent Garden, Berlin's Deutsche Oper, Bavarian State Opera, Zurich Opera House and numerous other opera houses and concert halls throughout Europe.

By 1997, Shicoff and Haddon finally reached a divorce settlement. Their final decree left Shicoff free to marry soprano Dawn Kotoski, with whom he had lived since 1990, and to renew his relationship with his daughter, Aliza. Shicoff also returned to the Met, as Lensky in ''Eugene Onegin'', to good notices. He has now been heard in nearly 200 performances of 20 roles at the Met.

Due to his personal friendship with the Austrian Federal Chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, Shicoff was widely expected to follow Ioan Holender as director of the Vienna State Opera (Wiener Staatsoper) in 2010. In a surprise decision and in defiance of Gusenbauer's publicly stated wish, Austrian Culture Minister Claudia Schmidt, however, appointed Dominique Meyer as director and Franz Welser-Möst as musical director on June 6, 2007.

Shicoff's most famous roles (besides ''Werther''), include the title roles in ''Tales of Hoffman'' and ''Peter Grimes'' and Lensky in ''Eugene Onegin'' and Eleazar in ″La Juive", as well as for a number of the Romantic French and Italian lyric and spinto tenor roles. In addition to his opera performances, he has also sung concerts with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Claudio Abbado, the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Edo de Waart, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa, among others, and at many festivals.

Recent performances

In recent seasons, Shicoff sang the roles of Cavaradossi in ''Tosca'' and Hoffmann at La Scala and Paris’ Opéra Bastille; Des Grieux in ''Manon Lescaut''; Don José in ''Carmen'' at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Zurich Opera House and Eleazar in Halévy's ''La Juive'' at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with Wiener Staatsoper and the Zurich Opera House, Peter Grimes at the Teatro Regio di Torino. He has sung also Edgardo in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', the title role in ''Idomeneo'', and Rodolfo in ''La bohème'' at the Wiener Staatsoper; ''Luisa Miller'' (Rodolfo) at the Met; Gabriele Adorno in ''Simon Boccanegra'' at Covent Garden and in Paris; Hermann in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 'Pique Dame'; and Manrico, Cavaradossi and Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly'' at the Zurich Opera House, among others. A regular at Wiener Staatsoper (where he attained the rank of Kammersänger and the rarely-awarded honorary lifetime membership in the company) he continues to triumph mostly in the verismo repertoire, but in February 2011 he repeated his huge success in the role of Captain Vere in Benjamin Britten's ''Billy Budd'' which he sang in the company premiere of the opera in 2002.

Along with his Vienna State Opera honors, he has also received the Golden Austrian Cross of Honor in the fields of Science and Art, the Golden Decoration for Services to the City of Vienna and France's Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans L'Ordre des Arts e des Lettres). He is a Grammy nominated artist and most recently, in April 2011, he was awarded the prestigious Russian Golden Mask Award as "Best Male Opera Performer".

Recordings

Bizet: ''Carmen'', Philips 422 366-2, Grand Auditorium de Radio France, Paris, 13-22 Jul 1988; Opéra-Comique version; Carmen: Jessye Norman; Micaëla: Mirella Freni; Don José: Neil Shicoff; Escamillo: Simon Estes; Orchestre National de France et Choeurs de Radio France; Conductor: Seiji Ozawa

Donizetti: ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', Teldec 0630-13803-2, St. Augustine's Church, London, September 1991; Lord Enrico Ashton: Alexandru Agache; Lucia: Edita Gruberova; Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood: Neil Shicoff; Lord Arturo Bucklaw: Bernard Lombardo; Raimondo Bidebent: Alastair Miles; Alisa: Diana Montague; London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers; Conductor: Richard Bonynge

Offenbach: ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', EMI CDS 7 49641, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Jun-Jul 1988; Fritz Oeser edition; Hoffmann: Neil Shicoff; Nicklausse/La Muse: Ann Murray; Olympia: Luciana Serra; Antonia: Rosalind Plowright; Giulietta: Jessye Norman; Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/Dapertutto: José van Dam; Symphonic Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels; Conductor: Sylvain Cambreling

Puccini: ''The Puccini Album: Great scenes from Tosca and Manon Lescaut'', Philips 456 586-2, Teatro Comunale, Florence, Nov 1997; Floria Tosca: Galina Gorchakova; Mario Cavaradossi: Neil Shicoff; Il Sagrestano: Alessandro Calamai; Manon Lescaut: Galina Gorchakova; Renato Des Grieux: Neil Shicoff; Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Conductor: Seiji Ozawa

Puccini: ''Il tabarro'', EMI CD 5 56587 2 - disc 1, Lyndhurst Hall, Air Studios, Hampstead, London, Jul 1997; Michele: Carlo Guelfi; Giorgetta: Maria Guleghina; Luigi: Neil Shicoff; London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices; Conductor: Antonio Pappano

Tchaikovsky: ''Eugene Onegin'', Philips 438 235-2, Paris, Oct 1992; Larina: Sarah Walker; Tatiana: Nuccia Focile; Olga: Olga Borodina; Filipyevna: Irina Arkhipova; Eugene Onegin: Dmitri Hvorostovsky; Lensky: Neil Shicoff; Prince Gremin: Alexander Anisimov; St. Petersburg Chamber Choir and Orchestre de Paris; Conductor: Semyon Bychkov

Tchaikovsky: ''Eugene Onegin'', Deutsche Grammophon 423959-2, Lukaskirche, Dresden, Jun 1987; Larina: Rosemarie Lang; Tatiana: Mirella Freni; Olga: Anne Sophie von Otter; Filipyevna: Ruthild Engert; Eugene Onegin: Thomas Allen; Lensky: Neil Shicoff; Prince Gremin: Paata Burchuladze; Staatskapelle Dresden and Rundfunkchor Leipzig; Conductor: James Levine

Verdi: ''Aroldo'', Philips 462 512-2; Aroldo: Neil Shicoff; Mina: Carol Vaness; Egberto: Anthony Michaels-Moore; Briano: Roberto Scandiuzzi; Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Conductor: Fabio Luisi

Verdi: ''Attila'', EMI CDS749952-2, Albanella, Milan, Jun-Jul 1989; Attila: Samuel Ramey; Odabella: Cheryl Studer; Foresto: Neil Shicoff; Ezio: Giorgio Zancanaro; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala; Conductor: Riccardo Muti

Verdi: ''Macbeth'', Philips 412 133-2, Berlin, Nov-Dec 1983; Lady Macbeth: Mara Zampieri; Macbeth: Renato Bruson; Banco: Robert Lloyd; Dama: Lucia Aliberti; Macduff: Neil Shicoff; Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin; Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli

Verdi: ''Rigoletto'', Philips 412 592-2 -or- 462 158-2, Rome, Sep 1984; Il Duca di Mantova: Neil Shicoff; Rigoletto: Renato Bruson; Gilda: Edita Gruberova; Sparafucile: Robert Lloyd; Maddalena: Brigitte Fassbaender; Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli

Verdi: ''La traviata'', Teldec 9031-76348-2, Abbey Road Studios, London, Feb 1992; Violetta Valéry: Edita Gruberova; Flora Bervoix: Patricia Spence; Annina: Monica Bacelli; Alfredo Germont: Neil Shicoff; Giorgio Germont: Giorgio Zancanaro; London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers; Conductor: Carlo Rizzi

Videography

Offenbach: ''Les Contes d'Hoffmann'', Metropolitan Opera Video; Metropolitan Opera, 8 Jan 1988 | Telecast: 2 Mar 1988; Olympia: Gwendolyn Bradley; Antonia: Roberta Alexander; Giulietta: Tatiana Troyanos; Nicklausse/La Muse: Susan Quittmeyer; Hoffmann: Neil Shicoff; Lindorf/Coppélius/Miracle/Dapertutto: James Morris; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus; Conductor: Charles Dutoit

Puccini: ''La Bohème'', National Video Corporation 4509-99222-3 -or- Castle Vision CVI 2014; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 1982; Mimì: Ileana Cotrubas; Rodolfo: Neil Shicoff; Marcello: Thomas Allen; Musetta: Marilyn Zschau; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Royal Opera Chorus; Conductor: Lamberto Gardelli

Verdi: ''La traviata'', National Video Corporation 4509-92409-3/Teldec Video; Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Dec 1992; Violetta Valéry: Edita Gruberova; Flora Bervoix: Mariana Pentcheva; Annina: Antonella Trevisan; Alfredo Germont: Neil Shicoff; Giorgio Germont: Giorgio Zancanaro; Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro La Fenice; Conductor: Carlo Rizzi

Halévy: ''La juive'', Deutsche Grammophon DVD 00440 073 4001; Vienna State Opera 15 May 2003; Neil Shicoff (Eléazar), Krassimira Stoyanova (Rachel), Simina Ivan (Euxodie), Jianyi Zhang (Léopold), Walter Fink (Cardinal Brogni) - Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, cond. Vjekoslav Šutej

References

External links

Neil Shicoff's website

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American opera singers Category:American Jews Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Operatic tenors Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Jewish opera singers

de:Neil Shicoff es:Neil Shicoff eo:Neil Shicoff he:ניל שיקוף ru:Шикофф, Нил fi:Neil Shicoff

Roberto Alagna (born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor of Sicilian (Italian) descent. He was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.

Early years

Alagna was born outside of the city of Paris in 1963 to a family of Sicilian (Italian) immigrants . As a teenager, the young Alagna began busking and singing pop in Parisian cabarets for tips. Influenced primarily by the films of Mario Lanza, but also from recordings of many historic tenors, he then switched to opera, but remained largely self-taught.

Career

After winning the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition, Alagna made his professional debut in 1988 as Alfredo Germont in ''La Traviata'' with the Glyndebourne touring company. This led to many engagements throughout the smaller cities in France and Italy, mainly again as Alfredo, a role he would eventually sing over 150 times. His reputation grew and he was soon invited to sing at major theaters such as La Scala in 1990, Covent Garden in 1992 and the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in 1996. His performances of Roméo in ''Roméo et Juliette'' by Charles Gounod at Covent Garden in 1994 (opposite Leontina Vaduva) catapulted him to international stardom.

Alagna opened the 2006/07 season at La Scala on 7 December 2006 in the new production of ''Aïda'' by Franco Zeffirelli. During the second performance on 10 December, Alagna, whose opening performance was considered ill-at-ease, was booed and whistled from the ''loggione'' (the least expensive seats at the very back of La Scala), and he walked off the stage. The tenor's reaction to his public criticism was denounced as immature and unprofessional by La Scala management and Zeffirelli, who said, “A professional should never behave in this way. Alagna is too sensitive, it is too easy to hurt his feelings. He does not know how to act like a true star.” The role of Radames was taken over successfully for the rest of the performance by his understudy Antonello Palombi, who entered on stage wearing jeans and a black shirt. In 2007 while at the Metropolitan Opera singing the role of Pinkerton in ''Madame Butterfly'', Alagna replaced the indisposed Rolando Villazon as Romeo in ''Roméo et Juliette'' opposite Anna Netrebko for two performances in September and two performances in December. His wife had flown to New York to be with him for the September engagements, and as a result was fired from the Lyric Opera of Chicago for missing her rehearsal dates for ''La Bohème''. Alagna was also engaged by the Metropolitan Opera at the last minute to cover for the indisposed Marco Berti in a 16 October 2007 performance of ''Aida''. After the performance, the audience gave him a standing ovation. The 15 December performance of ''Roméo et Juliette'' starring Alagna and Netrebko was broadcast by the Met into 447 theaters worldwide in high definition and seen by about 97,000 people.

Personal life

Alagna's first wife, Florence Lancien, died of a brain tumor in 1994; they had one daughter, Ornella, who was born in 1992. In 1996, he married Romanian soprano, Angela Gheorghiu. The couple have sung together often onstage and have made many recordings together both of duets and arias and complete operas. Their joint album, ''Duets & Arias'', peaked at #42 in the UK Albums Chart in May 1996. The two singers also starred in a film version of Puccini's ''Tosca'' directed by French film director Benoît Jacquot. In October 2009, Alagna said in an interview in ''Le Figaro'' that he and Angela Gheorghiu had separated. Following the separation, Gheorghiu declined to appear opposite him in ''Carmen'' at the Metropolitan Opera in December 2009.

References

Metropolitan Opera, Alagna, Roberto (Tenor), performance record from MetOpera database

External links

Reviews, articles, photos and future schedules from The Opera Critic

Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks

Concert photos

Roberto Alagna in an excerpt from ''Tosca''.

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:People from Clichy-sous-Bois Category:French male singers Category:French opera singers Category:French tenors Category:Operatic tenors Category:French buskers Category:French people of Italian descent Category:French people of Sicilian descent

ca:Roberto Alagna da:Roberto Alagna de:Roberto Alagna es:Roberto Alagna fr:Roberto Alagna id:Roberto Alagna it:Roberto Alagna he:רוברטו אלאניה la:Robertus Alagna hu:Roberto Alagna nl:Roberto Alagna ja:ロベルト・アラーニャ pl:Roberto Alagna ro:Roberto Alagna scn:Robbertu Alagna simple:Roberto Alagna sl:Roberto Alagna fi:Roberto Alagna sv:Roberto Alagna zh:羅伯托·阿藍尼亞

José Plácido Domingo Embil KBE () (born 21 January 1941), better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, and as of July 2011 his 136 roles give Domingo more roles than any other tenor.

One of The Three Tenors, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, as well as serving as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C. and the Los Angeles Opera in California. His contract in Los Angeles has been extended through the 2012-13 season, but the Washington, D.C. ended with the 2010–2011 season.

Biography and career

Early years

Plácido Domingo was born on January 21, 1941, near the distrito de Salamanca section of Madrid, Spain, and moved to Mexico with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. He studied piano at first privately and later at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City.

In 1957, Domingo made his first professional appearance, performing with his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatán. He made his opera debut performing in Manuel Fernández Caballero's zarzuela, ''Gigantes y cabezudos'', singing a baritone role. At that time, he was working with his parents' zarzuela company, taking baritone roles and as an accompanist for other singers. Among his first performances was a minor role in the first Mexican production of ''My Fair Lady'' where he was also the assistant conductor and assistant coach. The company gave 185 performances, which included a production of Lehár's ''The Merry Widow'' in which he performed alternately as either Camille or Danilo.

In 1959, Domingo auditioned for the Mexico National Opera as a baritone but was then asked to sight-read some arias and lines in the tenor range. Finally he was accepted in the National Opera as a tenor comprimario and as a tutor for other singers. He provided backup vocals for ''Los Black Jeans'' in 1958, a rock-and-roll band led by César Costa. He studied piano and conducting, but made his stage debut acting in a minor role in 1959 (12 May) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in ''Marina''. It was followed by Borsa in ''Rigoletto'' (with Cornell MacNeil and Norman Treigle also in the cast), Padre Confessor (''Dialogues of the Carmelites'') and others.

He played piano for a ballet company to supplement his income as well as playing piano for a program on Mexico's newly founded cultural television station. The program consisted of excerpts from zarzuelas, operettas, operas, and musical comedies. He acted in a few small parts while at the theater in plays by Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, and Anton Chekhov.

1960s–1980s

In 1961, he made his operatic debut in a leading role as Alfredo in ''La Traviata'' at Monterrey (Maria Teresa Montoya theater) and, later in the same year, his debut in the United States with the Dallas Civic Opera, where he played the role of Arturo in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' opposite Joan Sutherland in the title role.

In 1962, he returned to Texas to play the role of Edgardo in the same opera with Lily Pons at the Fort Worth Opera. At the end of 1962, he signed a six month contract with the Israel National Opera in Tel Aviv but later extended the contract and stayed for two and a half years, singing 280 performances of 12 different roles.

In June 1965, after finishing his contract with Israel National Opera, Domingo went for an audition at the New York City Opera and scheduled to make his New York debut as Don Jose in Bizet's ''Carmen'' but his debut came earlier when he was asked to fill in for an ailing tenor at the last minute in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly''. On 17 June 1965, Domingo made his New York debut as B. F. Pinkerton at the New York City Opera. In February 1966, he sang the title role in the U.S. premiere of Ginastera's ''Don Rodrigo'' at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. The performance also marked the opening of the City Opera's new home at Lincoln Center.

His official debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York occurred on 28 September 1968 when he substituted for Franco Corelli, in Cilea's ''Adriana Lecouvreur'' singing with Renata Tebaldi. Before ''Adriana Lecouvreur'', he had sung in performances by the Metropolitan Opera at Lewisohn Stadium of Mascagni's ''Cavalleria rusticana'' and Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci'' in 1966. Since then, he has opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera 21 times, surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968, at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969, at the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1970, and at Covent Garden in 1971, and has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide. In 1971, he sang Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's ''Tosca'' at the Metropolitan Opera, and continued to sing that part for many years, singing it, in fact, more than any other role.

Domingo has also conducted opera–as early as 7 October 1973, ''La traviata'' at the New York City Opera with Patricia Brooks–and occasionally symphony orchestras as well. In 1981 Domingo gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American country/folk music singer John Denver. In 1987, he and Denver joined Julie Andrews for an Emmy Award winning holiday television special, ''The Sound of Christmas'', filmed in Salzburg, Austria.

On 19 September 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated part of the Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew's young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he did benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.

1990s – present

Throughout the1990s and 2000s until today, Domingo continued performing, singing many of the same roles but adding new roles as well, among them the title roles in Wagner's ''Parsifal'' and Mozart's ''Idomeneo'', Rossini's ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' as Figaro, Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' as Siegmund, Lehár's ''The Merry Widow'' as Danilo and Alfano's ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' as Cyrano. From the middle 1990s to early in 2008 alone, he added 38 new roles to his repertoire, covering opera in six different languages (English, Italian, French, German, Russian and Spanish). The latest was the Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, ''Tamerlano''.

Giving him even greater international recognition outside of the world of opera, he participated in The Three Tenors concert at the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals (1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, along with rising stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. On 24 August 2008, Domingo performed a duet with Song Zuying, singing ''Ài de Huǒyàn (The Flame of Love)'' at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing. The Beijing Olympics was the second Olympics he performed at; he sang the Olympic Hymn at the closing ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics. At the Olympic games that followed that, he would meet Sissel Kyrkjebø, who performed the Olympic Hymn at both the opening and closing ceremonies at those games.

In what has been called his 'final career move', Plácido Domingo announced on 25 January 2007 that in 2009 he would take on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, singing the title role in ''Simon Boccanegra''. The debut performance was at Berlin State Opera on October 24, followed by 29 other performances during 2009/2010 at major opera houses around the world. He would, however, continue to sing tenor roles beforehand and afterwards.

On 16–17 April 2008 he sang during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park and at the Italian embassy in Washington D.C. Since 1990 Plácido Domingo has received many awards and honors for his achievement in the field of music and in recognition of his many benefit concerts and contributions to various charities.

On 15 March 2009, The Metropolitan Opera paid tribute to Domingo's 40th anniversary with the company with an on-stage gala dinner at the Met's 125th anniversary, commemorating his debut in Adriana Lecouvreur as Maurizio opposite Renata Tebaldi on 28 September 1968.

On 29 August 2009 he sang ''Panis Angelicus'' at the funeral mass of Senator Ted Kennedy in the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts.

On September 20, 2010, Domingo announced that he would renew his contract as General Director of the Los Angeles Opera through 2013. On September 27, 2010, Domingo announced that he will not renew his contract as General Director of the Washington National Opera beyond its June 2011 expiration date.

Ever a sympathetic colleague, in March 2011 he refused to sing in Buenos Aires until the city settled a bitter musicians strike at the Teatro Colon.

Family

He was born to Plácido Francisco Domingo Ferrer (8 March 1907 – 22 November 1987) and Pepita Embil Echaníz (28 February 1918 – 28 September 1994), two Spanish zarzuela stars who nurtured his early musical abilities. Domingo's father was half Catalan and half Aragonese while his mother was a Basque. His father was a violinist performing for opera and zarzuela orchestra. He was a baritone and actively taking roles in zarzuela. However his promising career as a baritone ended after he damaged his voice by singing with a cold. Domingo's mother was an established singer who made her zarzuela debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She met her husband at age 21 while performing in Federico Moreno Torroba's ''Sor Navarra''. In 1946 Moreno Torroba and Domingo's parents formed a zarzuela company and travelled frequently to Mexico. His parents later stayed permanently in Mexico and established their own zarzuela troupe, the Domingo-Embil Company. In addition to their son, they also have a daughter, Maria José Domingo de Fernandez .

On 29 August 1957 at age 16, Plácido Domingo married a fellow piano student, Ana María Guerra Cué (1938–2006) and his first son, José Plácido Domingo Guerra (Pepe) was born on 16 June 1958. However, the marriage didn't last long, the couple separating shortly thereafter. On 1 August 1962, Plácido Domingo married Marta Ornelas, born 1935, a lyric soprano from Veracruz, Mexico, whom he met during his conservatory days. In the same year, Marta had been voted "Mexican Singer of the Year" but she gave up her promising career to devote her time to her family. They have two sons, Plácido Francisco (Plácido Jr.) born on 21 October 1965 and Alvaro Maurizio born on 11 October 1968. After a period of time living in Israel, he and his family resided in Teaneck, New Jersey. During vacations, he usually spends his time with family in their vacation home in Acapulco, Mexico.

In March 2010 he underwent surgery for colon cancer.

Recordings

He has made well over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once. Among these recordings is a boxed set of every tenor aria Verdi ever wrote, including several rarely performed versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote for specific performances.

In August 2005, EMI Classics released a new studio recording of Richard Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'' in which Domingo sings the title role of Tristan. A review of this recording, headlined "Vocal perfections", that appeared in the 8 August 2005 issue of ''The Economist'' begins with the word "Monumental" and ends with the words, "a musical lyricism and a sexual passion that make the cost and the effort entirely worthwhile". It characterized his July 2005 performance of Siegmund in Wagner's ''Die Walküre'' at Covent Garden as "unforgettable" and "luminous". The review also remarks that Domingo is still taking on roles that he has not previously performed.

Recordings that were released in 2006 include studio recordings of Puccini's ''Edgar'', Isaac Albéniz's ''Pepita Jiménez'', as well as a selection of Italian and Neapolitan songs, titled ''Italia ti amo'' (all three with Deutsche Grammophon). Domingo appeared as the star act in the New Orleans Opera Association's ''A Night For New Orleans'' with Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral, in March 2006. The concert was to raise funds for the rebuilding of the city.

Appearances on film and television

''See Domingo's opera recording in DVD/VHS format and audio CD format.''

Domingo has appeared in numerous opera films, among them are Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's ''Madama Butterfly'', Gianfranco de Bosio's ''Tosca'' with Raina Kabaivanska, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's ''Tosca'' with Catherine Malfitano (Emmy Award), Franco Zeffirelli's ''Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci'', all made for television, and, for theatrical release, Francesco Rosi's ''Carmen'' (Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), Zeffirelli's ''Otello'' with Katia Ricciarelli, and Zeffirelli's ''La traviata'' (with Teresa Stratas, which received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording).

His singing voice was heard performing the song "In Pace", during the closing credits of Kenneth Branagh's ''Hamlet'' (1996).

He has also appeared on television in the 1978 La Scala production of Puccini's ''Manon Lescaut'' which marked the Scala debut of Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, as well in zarzuela evenings, and ''Live at the Met'' telecasts and broadcasts. In 2007, Domingo had a cameo role in ''The Simpsons'' episode "Homer of Seville", which revolves around Homer Simpson becoming an opera singer. In his cameo, Domingo sang briefly. Domingo appeared on ''The Cosby Show'' Season 5 as Alberto Santiago, a colleague of Dr Cliff Huxtable.

In 1989, the international television series, 'Return Journey' featured Domingo returning to his home city of Madrid refecting life there whilst recording an album of Zarzuela arias for EMI. The film was directed by Ken MacGregor.

He is the executive producer of the critically acclaimed 1998 Mexican film, ''The Other Conquest'', produced by his son Alvaro and directed by Salvador Carrasco, in which Domingo also performs the original aria "Mater Aeterna", composed by Samuel Zyman with lyrics by Carrasco.

''Christmas in Vienna''

In 1990, the idea for a Christmas-themed concert, involving the collaboration of Domingo, fellow operatic tenor and friend José Carreras, and pop music legend Diana Ross was first brought up. Vienna was chosen in 1992 to host the event due to its reputation as a capital of music and the particular charm of Austria during Christmas time. The Wiener Symphoniker under the direction of maestro Vjekoslav Šutej provided the orchestral music, and the Gumpoldskirchen Children's Choir provided choral vocals. On 23 December 1992 the first in what would turn out to be a series of ''Christmas in Vienna'' concerts was seen worldwide by several hundred million people. Plácido Domingo returned to Vienna for many more ''Christmas in Vienna'' concerts, performing with stars and friends of both pop and classical music, including Dionne Warwick, Charles Aznavour, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Michael Bolton, Sarah Brightman, Riccardo Cocciante, Patricia Kaas, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett and others.

Complete repertoire

Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 128 opera roles and as many as 131 roles overall in Italian, French, German, English, Spanish and Russian. His main repertoire however is Italian (''Otello'', Cavaradossi in ''Tosca'', ''Don Carlo'', Des Grieux in ''Manon Lescaut'', Dick Johnson in ''La fanciulla del West'', Radames in ''Aida''), French (''Faust'', ''Werther'', Don José in ''Carmen'', Samson in ''Samson et Dalila''), and German (''Lohengrin'', ''Parsifal'', and Siegmund in ''Die Walküre''). He continues to add more roles to his repertoire, the latest was the title, baritone role in Verdi's ''Simon Boccanegra'' on 24 October 2009 at Berlin State Opera. Additionally, Domingo has created several new roles in modern operas, such as the title role in Tan Dun's opera ''The First Emperor'' at the Metropolitan Opera. In September 2010, he created the role of the poet Pablo Neruda in the world première of Daniel Catán's opera based on the film ''Il Postino'' at Los Angeles Opera. During the 2011-2012 season at the Met he will create the role of Neptune in the original baroque pastiche ''The Enchanted Island'' conducted by William Christie with a libretto by Jeremy Sams.

Awards and honors

Plácido Domingo won his first Grammy Award in 1971 and went on to win eight more, as well as three Latin Grammy awards. A Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera and the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, his other major awards include an Honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Austria's Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst, France's Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur, Mexico's Orden del Águila Azteca, Spain's Premio Príncipe de Asturias, and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Writings

!Date	!Title	!Publisher	!ISBN	!Pages	!Author(s)
Sept1983	''My First Forty Years''	Alfred A. Knopf	ISBN 0394523296	256	Plácido Domingo
Dec1994	''Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera''	Hyperion	ISBN 0786880252	494	Fred Plotkin,Plácido Domingo (intro)
July1997	''Christmas With Plácido Domingo: Trumpets Sound And Angels Sing''	Alfred Publishing Company	ISBN 0895243210	80	Plácido Domingo,Milton Okun (editor)
July1997	''Bajo el cielo español(Under the Spanish Sky)''	Warner Brothers Publications	ISBN 0769200249	84	Plácido Domingo (Recorder),Carol Cuellar (Compiler)
March1999	''Plácido Domingo — Por Amor''	Hal Leonard Corporation	ISBN 0711972583	104	Plácido Domingo
March2003	''Plácido Domingo (Great Voices Series): My Operatic Roles''	Baskerville Publishers, Incorporated	ISBN 1880909618	319	Helena Matheopoulos,Plácido Domingo
March2007	''Leoncavallo: Life and Works''	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc	ISBN 0810858738ISBN 0810858800	349351	Konrad Claude Dryden,Plácido Domingo (intro)
Dec2007	''So When Does the Fat Lady Sing?''	Hal Leonard Corporation	ISBN 1574671626	173

A new book by Domingo, ''The Joy of Opera'', will be published by W. W. Norton & Company in year 2009

Humanitarian works and initiatives

In June 2010 Domingo became President of Europa Nostra, the Voice of Cultural Heritage in Europe

On 4 March 2006, Domingo sang at the Gala Benefit Concert, "A Night For New Orleans" at the New Orleans Arena to help rebuilding the city after it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. At the gala, he made a statement: "If music be the food of love", then "MUSIC IS THE VOICE OF HOPE!" . On 23 March 2008, the New Orleans City Council named the city theatre's stage in the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in Louis Armstrong Park, the "Plácido Domingo stage" as the honour for his contribution at the Gala Benefits Concert. The Gala collected $700,000 for the city recovery fund.

In 1986, he performed at benefit concerts to raise funds for the victims of 1985 Mexico City earthquake and released an album of one of the events. On 21 August 2007, as recognition to his support to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims as well as his artistic works, a statue in his honor, made in Mexico City from keys donated by the people, was unveiled. The statue is the work of Alejandra Zúñiga, is two meters tall, weighs about 300 kg (660 lbs) and is part of the "Grandes valores" (Great values) program.

Domingo supports the ''Hear the World'' initiative as an ambassador to raise awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.

In 1993 he founded ''Operalia, The World Opera Competition'', an international opera competition for talented young singers. The winners get the opportunities of being employed in opera ensembles around the world. Domingo has been instrumental in giving many young artists encouragement, (and special attention) as in 2001, when he invited New York tenor, Daniel Rodriguez to attend the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists program to further develop his operatic skills.

On 21 December 2003, Domingo made a performance in Cancún to benefit the ''Ciudad de la Alegria Foundation'', the foundation that provides assistance and lodging to people in need, including low-income individuals, orphans, expectant mothers, immigrants, rehabilitated legal offenders, and the terminally ill.

On 27 June 2007, Domingo and Katherine Jenkins performed in a charity concert in Athens to raise funds to aid the conflict in Darfur. The concert was organized by ''Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders''.

In 2 October 2007, Domingo joins several other preeminent figures in entertainment, government, the environment and more, as the one of receivers of the BMW Hydrogen 7, designed in the mission to build support of hydrogen as a viable substitute to fossil fuels.

On 17 January 2009 he performed with the New Orleans Opera directed by Robert Lyall in a gala reopening of New Orleans' Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. The master of ceremonies was New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson.

In May 2011 he was invited by president Sepp Blatter to help clean up the football governing body, FIFA, which had been accused of taking bribes from countries that wanted to stage the World Cup.

See also

List of recordings by Plácido Domingo

The Three Tenors

Christmas in Vienna I, II, III, and VI

Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording

:Category:Plácido Domingo albums

Plácido Domingo Jr.

References

External links

Official website

Placido Domingo - My Greatest Roles Collection of televised performances from the legendary Spanish tenor

Plácido Domingo International ''Operalia'' Opera Singer Contest

World Tour Homepage

Discography on EMI Classics website

Discography on DG Classics website

Opera is expensive, singers are cheap, Plácido Domingo about too small Operas, Casting-Singers as Paul Potts and the humility before a great career (Interview by Nahuel Lopez in German, ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'', 17 March 2009)

Interview with Domingo from ''The Guardian'', 10 July 2005

Biography at the Kennedy Center

Guardian article detailing his switch to baritone.

History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Operatic tenors Category:People from Madrid Category:Spanish conductors (music) Category:Spanish singers Category:Spanish male singers Category:Spanish opera singers Category:Spanish people of Basque descent Category:Opera managers Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Recipients of the Order of the Aztec Eagle Category:Recipients of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Category:Recipients of the Prince of Asturias Awards Category:Order of Civil Merit members Category:Orden de las Artes y las Letras de España recipients Category:Recipients of the Birgit Nilsson Prize Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Category:Knights of the Order of St John Category:Recipients of the National Order of the Cedar Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Honorees Category:Operalia Category:Grammy Awards for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album Category:Alumni of the National Conservatory of Music of Mexico Category:Spanish expatriates in the United States

ast:Plácido Domingo be:Пласіда Дамінга be-x-old:Пласіда Дамінга bg:Пласидо Доминго ca:Plácido Domingo cs:Plácido Domingo da:Plácido Domingo de:Plácido Domingo es:Plácido Domingo eo:Plácido Domingo eu:Plácido Domingo fa:پلاسیدو دومینگو fr:Plácido Domingo gl:Plácido Domingo ko:플라시도 도밍고 hy:Պլասիդո Դոմինգո hr:Plácido Domingo it:Plácido Domingo he:פלאסידו דומינגו la:Placidus Domingo lv:Plasido Domingo lb:Plácido Domingo lt:Plácido Domingo hu:Plácido Domingo mk:Пласидо Доминго ms:Plácido Domingo nl:Plácido Domingo ja:プラシド・ドミンゴ nap:Plácido Domingo no:Plácido Domingo nn:Plácido Domingo pl:Plácido Domingo pt:Plácido Domingo ro:Plácido Domingo qu:Plácido Domingo ru:Доминго, Пласидо scn:Plácido Domingo simple:Plácido Domingo sk:Plácido Domingo sl:Placido Domingo sh:Plácido Domingo fi:Plácido Domingo sv:Plácido Domingo th:ปลาซีโด โดมิงโก tr:Plácido Domingo uk:Пласідо Домінґо vi:Placido Domingo zh-yue:杜明高 zh:普拉西多·多明哥

Josep Maria Carreras i Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (), is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut on the opera stage at the age of 11 as Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's ''El retablo de Maese Pedro'' and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles on the stages of the world's leading opera houses 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. Carreras is also known for his humanitarian work as the president of the José 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.

Life and career

Early years

The youngest of three children, Carreras was born in Sants, a working class district in Barcelona, Spain. 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. [citation needed]

thumb|200px|left|José Carreras, age 8, in his first public performance. Spanish National Radio, December 1954.He showed an early talent for music and particularly singing, which intensified at the age of 6 when he saw Mario Lanza in ''The Great Caruso''. 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. 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''. On 3 January 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 as Rodolfo in ''La bohème'' at the Teatro Regio di Parma on 12 January 1972. Later that year he made his American debut as Pinkerton in ''Madama Butterfly'' with the New York City Opera. Other major house debuts followed – the San Francisco Opera in 1973, as Rodolfo; the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1973, as Alfredo in ''La traviata''; the Vienna Staatsoper in 1974, as the Duke of Mantua in ''Rigoletto''; London's Royal Opera House in 1974, as Alfredo; 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''. Carreras's leading ladies during the 1970s and 1980s included some of the most famous sopranos and mezzo-sopranos of the day: Montserrat Caballé, Birgit Nilsson, Viorica Cortez, Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, Sylvia Sass, Teresa Stratas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Agnes Baltsa, Teresa Berganza, and Katia Ricciarelli. His artistic partnership with Ricciarelli began when they both sang in the 1972 ''La bohème'' at Parma and lasted for 13 years, both in the recording studio and on stage. They later made a studio recording of ''La bohème'' for Philips Classics and can be heard together on over 12 other commercial recordings of both operas and recitals, predominantly on the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

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. 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.)

The 1980s saw Carreras occasionally moving outside the strictly operatic repertoire, at least in the recording studio, with recitals of songs from zarzuela, musicals, and operettas. He also made full-length recordings of two musicals – ''West Side Story'' (1985) and ''South Pacific'' (1986) – both with Kiri Te Kanawa as his co-star. His 1987 Philips recording of the Argentine folk mass, ''Misa Criolla'', conducted by its composer, Ariel Ramirez, 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 tenor Julián Gayarre in ''Romanza Final'' (The Final Romance) and in 1987, he started working on a film version of ''La bohème'' directed by Luigi Comencini.

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'' (Mérida, 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 12 July 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. It is estimated that over a billion people around the world watched the television broadcast of the 1994 Three Tenors concert in Los Angeles. 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. 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 worldwide 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'. He has also increasingly performed and recorded with artists from outside the classical music world, such as Diana Ross, Edyta Górniak, 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

thumb|200px|right|José Carreras visiting a leukemia patient on the cover of ''Amigos de la Fundación'', July 2005Following his own recovery from leukemia, Carreras sought both to repay the debt he owed to medical science and to improve the lives and care of other leukemia sufferers. On 14 July 1988, he established the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation (Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia) in Barcelona. 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: Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur (France); Gran Croce di Cavaliere and Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana; Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria; 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 23 February 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); the University of Pécs (Hungary) and most recently, the Hyunghee University (Korea) and the University of Porto (Portugal).

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.

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. 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." 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. 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.

Voice

thumb|180px|right|José Carreras in ''Andrea Chénier'', La Scala, 1985In its prime, Carreras's voice was considered one of the most beautiful tenor voices of the day. The Spanish critic, Fernando Fraga has described it as a lyric tenor with the generosity of a spinto, having "a noble timbre, richly coloured and sumptuously resonant". This is particularly true of the middle range 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. Like his idol, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carreras was also known for the beauty and expressiveness of his phrasing and for his passionate delivery. These qualities are perhaps best exemplified in his 1976 recording of ''Tosca'' with Montserrat Caballé in the title role and conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

According to several critics his assumption of the heavier spinto roles such as ''Andrea Chénier'', 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 Chénier'' 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." Of his 1985 performance in ''Andrea Chénier'' 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." 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. Critic Peter G. Davis wrote of Carreras' choice to continue his career:

Even critics hostile to the Three Tenors phenomenon draw the veil of charity over Carreras's charmless contributions to those mechanized events, hesitating to point out that his voice lost its luster and lyric beauty long before its owner fell ill. Yet that unpleasant fact never seems to dampen the enthusiasm of his fans, who may be less interested in music and expressive singing than in applauding triumph over adversity.

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 Chénier'' (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: ''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 the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 464 7292

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

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, 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 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

Josep Carreras — official website

Official website dedicated primarily to Carreras's 2004 CD ''Energia''

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.

Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung – the official web site for the German branch of Carreras's leukemia foundation.

The Unofficial José Carreras Web Site – a large data base of media articles and reviews dating from 1970 to 2002.

The José Carreras Timeline 1958–2004.

Complete performance records at The New York Metropolitan Opera and La Scala

Agent Peter Kupfer

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:Catalan opera singers Category:Spanish singers Category:Spanish male singers Category:Spanish opera singers Category:Operatic tenors Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Grand Officers of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Category:Recipients of the Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria Category:Cancer survivors Category:Alumni of the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Singers from Barcelona

ar:خوسيه كاريراس be:Хасэ Карэрас be-x-old:Хасэ Карэрас bg:Хосе Карерас ca:Josep Carreras i Coll cs:José Carreras cy:José Carreras da:José Carreras de:Josep Carreras es:José Carreras eo:José Carreras eu:Josep Carreras fa:خوزه کارراس fr:José Carreras gl:José Carreras ko:호세 카레라스 hr:José Carreras it:José Carreras he:חוסה קאררס la:Iosephus Carreras lb:José Carreras hu:José Carreras ms:José Carreras nl:José Carreras ja:ホセ・カレーラス no:José Carreras nn:José Carreras uz:José Carreras pl:José Carreras pt:Josep Carreras ro:José Carreras ru:Каррерас, Хосе simple:José Carreras sl:José Carreras sh:José Carreras fi:José Carreras sv:José Carreras th:โคเซ การ์เรรัส uk:Хосе Каррерас zh-yue:卡里拉斯 zh:何塞·卡雷拉斯