José Carreras

One of contemporary opera's most celebrated figures, José Carreras is perhaps best known for his association with the Three Tenors, a distinction shared with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Born December 5, 1946 in Sants, a working-class district in Barcelona, 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,...