Tenor José Carreras performs in September in Lisbon
The tenor José Carreras will perform in Lisbon, next September 28, accompanied by the Lisbon Sinfonietta directed by maestro David Giménez, in a concert at the Altice Arena, which has the soprano Isabel Alcobia.
The tenor, 72, has performed regularly in Portugal, in June 2012 shared the stage with the fado singer Carminho, in Lisbon, and in 1998 starred in the opening gala of Expo’98, alongside Teresa Salgueiro.
In 2009, in a recital that he gave at the Cavalry School in Santarém, the singer also shared the stage with the Portuguese Isabel Alcobia, playing together ‘Die lustige witwe’ by Franz Léhar and ‘Duo y Jota’ by Manuel F Caballero, among other pieces.
At the time, the tenor stated that he likes Portugal, where he used to “come often”, and of fado, that “it is a passionate, sentimental, very intimate song”.
“I learned to know fado, which is what the whole world knows about Portugal, with Amália Rodrigues. When I was a teenager in Spain, Amália was very, very well known. She heard her records, her songs on the radio, and later his performances on television, “he said.
He considered Portugal as “a country that always has very good singers”, and referred to the soprano Elisabete Matos, with whom he worked “frequently”.
“I sang with Elisabete Matos very often in the United States, Japan, and Spain. She is a magnificent singer, whom I really like,” she said.
José Carreras, born in Barcelona on December 5, 1946, stood out in the interplay of characters from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini, and became world-famous alongside his compatriot Placido Domingo and the Italian Luciano Pavarotti (1935- 2007).
Carreras, who began his musical studies with Magda Prunera, debuted at the age of eight on Radio Nacional de España, playing the aria ‘La Donna è Mobile’, from the opera ‘Rigoletto’, by Verdi, accompanied by the piano by his teacher.
At the age of 11, he was shown on stage at the Gran Teatro del Liceo, in his hometown, in the role of ‘Trujiman’, in the puppet opera ‘El Retablo de Maese Pedro’, by Manuel de Falla.
Throughout the career was directed by maestros like Herbert von Karajan, Claudius Abbado, Ricardo Muti, James Levine, Carlo Maria Fiulini or Zubin Mehta and Leonardo Bernstein.
Having performed in the major operatic halls, such as the Alla Scala in Milan, where it debuted in 1975, or the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where it was premiered in 1974, among others, Carreras performed in recital in the most diverse rooms , from Kozenzerthaus in Vienna to the Royal Albert Hall in London, via the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Berlin Philharmonic, or the Royal Theater in Madrid.
The Spanish tenor also participated in festivals, especially in Salzburg, Austria.
Alongside his artistic career, Carreras “seeks to reconcile (music) with the activities of his foundation to fight against leukemia.”
Distinguished in 1991 with the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts, he was decorated by the governments of France, the Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honor of Italy, with the Knight’s Cross of the Republic and Grand Officer of the Italian Republic, Austria, with the Great Medal, for services rendered to the country, Germany, with the Order of Merit, and for his country with the Gold Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity.
The tenor was distinguished with different Doctorates ‘Honoris Causa’, namely by the Portuguese universities of Coimbra and Porto, Barcelona and Miguel Hernández, Spain, Loughborough and Sheffield, United Kingdom, Camerino, Italy, that of Rutgers in the United States, or in Marburg, Germany, among others.
