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The Catalonia|Catalan tenor José Carreras (born
December 5, 1946) is a famous opera singer much
admired for his Verdi and Puccini roles. He enjoys
great fame through his participation in "The Three
Tenors"  concerts with Luciano Pavarotti and
Plácido Domingo.

Carreras was born in Barcelona and exhibited
musical talent from a young age. At age eight, he
also gave his first public performance, singing
"La Donna e Mobile" on Spanish national radio. At
eleven, he appeared at the Liceu as a boy soprano
in the role of the narrator in Manuel de
Falla|Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro and an
urchin in the second act of La bohème. 

In his teens, Carreras studied at the
Conservatorio Superior de MĂşsica del Liceo. He
made his debut at the Liceu as Flavio in Norma
(opera)|Norma, coming to the attention of the
famous soprano Montserrat Caballé, who sang the
title role. She invited him to sing in a
production of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia
(opera)|Lucrezia Borgia, his first major
breakthrough.

Carreras also sang with Caballé in his 1971
London stage debut at age 24, a concert
performance of Maria Stuarda. In subsequent years,
the two singers sang in more than fifteen
different operas together.

In 1972, he made his American debut as Pinkerton
in Madame Butterfly. In 1974, he made his debut at
the Vienna State Opera as the Duke of Mantua, as
Alfredo in La Traviata at the Royal Opera House
and as Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Metropolitan
Opera. The following year, Carreras made his debut
at La Scala as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera.
By the age of 28, Carreras had sung the lead tenor
in twenty-four different operas.

In 1987, at the height of his career, Carreras was
diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and
was given a 1 in 10 chance of survival. After
enduring almost a year of treatment including
radiation, chemotherapy, and an autologous bone
marrow transplant, he was able to resume his
singing career.

In 1988, he founded the José Carreras
International Leukaemia Foundation, a charity
which gives financial support to leukemia research
and the registration of bone marrow donors. 

In 1990, hundreds of millions of people around the
world watched the Three Tenors give a concert at
the opening of the FIFA World Cup|World Cup in
Rome. It was originally conceived to raise money
for Carreras' foundation and also as a way for his
colleagues, Domingo and Pavarotti, to welcome
their colleague back to the world of opera.

In addition to opera, Carreras also performs
lighter genres such as zarzuela. He also appeared
in and recorded West Side Story.

==External links==
*http://www.carreras-energia.com/ Official website
of José Carreras
*http://www.jcarreras.com/ José Carreras
unofficial fan website