Biography
JOSE CARRERAS occupies a privileged position in the music world. Born in Barcelona, he studied music in his hometown. In 1970 he started his professional career in the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona in Nabucco and Lucreczia Borgia.
His meteoric musical career resulted in early debuts at the world’s most prestigious opera theatres and festivals, including the Theatre alla Scala of Milan ; the New York Metropolitan Opera House; San Francisco Opera; the Vienna Staatsoper; London’s Royal Opera House; the Oper of Munich; Chicago’s Lyric Opera; and the Festivals of Salzburg; Aix en Provence; Edinburgh and Verona.
José Carreras has collaborated with the most renowned orchestra conductors including Herbert von Karajan (an artistic and personal relationship which lasted over twelve years and included performancesin Salzburg, Berlin and Vienna), Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Colin Davis, Giuseppe Sinopoli, James Levine, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Metha, and with pre-eminent stage directors such as: Franco Zeffirelli, Jean Pierre Ponnelle, Giorgio Strehler, Luigi Comencini and Harold Prince.
His repertoire includes over sixty operas and has performed for Television, Cinema and Video several operatic films. His extensive discography includes over 150 recordings, notably 50 complete operas, oratories, popular and classical recitals. He has been awarded with many Gold and Platinum Discs world-wide.
He has given frequent recitals in the world’s most famous halls: Carnegie Hall and the Avery Fisher Hall in New York; the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Hall and the Royal Albert Hall in London; the Salle Pleyel in Paris, at the Musikverein and Konzerthaus of Vienna, the Berlin Philarmonie, Suntory Hall and NHK Hall in Tokyo, the Grosses Festspielhaus of Salzburg, the Philarmonie and the Hercules Saal in Munich, the Palau de la Música of Barcelona, the Teatro Real of Madrid, the Accademia Santa Cecilia of Rome.
Among the numerous national and international prizes and distinctions which have been bestowed upon José Carreras, there are an Emmy from the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences of the United States; the Grand Prix du Disque from the Academy of Paris; the Luigi Illica Prize; a 1991 Grammy Award; the Sir Lawrence Olivier Award for his performance in “Stiffelio” at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Kammersänger and Lifetime Honorary Member of the Vienna Staatsoper; Honorary Member of the London Royal Academy of Music; he received the Gold Medal of the New York Spanish Institute; the Gold Medal of the City of Vienna ; the Gold Medal of Fine Arts bestowed by His Majesty the King of Spain; the Gold Medal of the City of Barcelona; the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalunya; Prince of Asturias Award 1991; Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur de la République Française; Gran Croce di Cavaliere and Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana; Honour Medal of the Bavarian Government, Grand Honour Award of the Austrian Republic, Komandor’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic, Commandeur de la Médaille du Sahametrei of the Royal Cambodian Government, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO and The Albert Schweitzer Music Award 1996. Furthermore he is Honorary President of the Julian Gayarre International Singing Competition and Honorary President of the London Arts Orchestra.
He has also been awarded the title Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Barcelona (Spain), the Universities of Loughborough and Sheffield (United Kingdom), the University Mendeleyev of Moscow (Russia), the University of Camerino (Italy), the Napier University in Edinburgh (Scotland), the Rutgers University (United States), the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Spain) and, most recently, the University of Coimbra (Portugal). He is Honorary Member of the European Society for Medicine, of the Leukaemia Support Group and the European Haematology Association. He is also Honorary Patron of the European Society for Medical Oncology. He has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Catalan Transplant Society, the Diamond Tulip Award of the Stichting Day by Day Foundation of the Netherlands, the St. Boniface General Hospital Research Foundation 1996 International Award and in February 2004 the Golden Cross of the Social Solidarity bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen of Spain.