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One of contemporary opera's most celebrated figures, JosT Carreras was perhaps best known for his association with the Three Tenors, a distinction he shared with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Born December 5, 1946, in the Spanish region of Catalonia, Carreras' gifts were recognized at a young age; as a child he sang along with the recordings of Mario Lanza and Giuseppe di Stefano, and by the time he was 11 made his operatic debut as the narrator in de Falla's Master Peter's Puppet Show, produced at the famed Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona. At university, Carreras studied chemistry with the intent of joining the family cosmetics company; he nevertheless continued his voice lessons, however, and after winning the International Verdi Singing competition in Parma, Italy, his fate as a performer was sealed. In 1971, Carreras made his international debut in a performance of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda at the Festival Hall, London. A year later, he sang his first Pinkerton in Mad...