Carreras to return

Opera lovers will be rubbing their hands in glee when they learn that NnG Promotions have secured the signature of world-famous tenor José Carreras for a concert in Valletta on June 8.

It will be the 60-year-old tenor's second visit to Malta after he performed during the Freeport inauguration celebrations in Mdina in 1991 along with Katia Ricciarelli.

The venue of the tenor's concert has still to be announced. He will be one in a series of high-profile artistes NnG will be enticing to Malta next summer, though details will be given in the coming weeks.

Renowned as one of the Three Tenors, José Carreras's repertoire includes over 60 operas performed in the world's most famous halls.

The Spanish singer was a child prodigy. After a mere two years of voice lessons, the young tenor sang La donna è mobile from Verdi's Rigoletto on Spanish national radio. He made his professional operatic debut at the age of 11 in Manuel de Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro. This unique opera, written originally for a puppet theatre, has as one of its primary roles an exceptionally difficult part for boy soprano - a part so challenging that it is rarely sung by a child, usually taken instead by an adult mezzo-soprano.

José Carreras made his American debut in 1972 at the New York City Opera as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and his Covent Garden debut two years later as Alfredo in La Traviata.

By the age of 28 he had already sung 24 different roles in the leading opera houses in the world.

It was, however, not plain sailing for the tenor. Critics sometimes found his voice strained and it was not immediately recognised that this tiredness masked the onset and development of leukaemia, not diagnosed until 1987, when it had reached an acute phase.

It was during his treatment that the Three Tenors phenomenon was born. Having competed with both Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in the world of opera, he struck up friendships with both men, who supported him during his illness. The resulting records and videos were phenomenal sellers.

José Carreras is widely represented in operatic and concert recordings, numerous crossover recordings of various styles, and a large number of videos, including his biography A Life Story, which included his battle with leukaemia and which went on to win an international Emmy award.

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