Great opera singer  / World Super Star
 

In 2016 celebrated his 70th. The Spanish tenor's illustrious career spans over 45 years. Over the years, Carreras has moved beyond opera into the areas of art song and pop music but reached his widest audience as one of the "Three Tenors" along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. 

By 1970, at the age of 24, he'd given his professional debut in Barcelona, and by mid-decade, he'd reached the world's major opera stages: the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Covent Garden in London and the Vienna State Opera. Expression, timbre and complete voice control were his trademarks, along with a very personal touch. 

"Do you know why you're so good?" the conductor Herbert von Karajan once asked. "Because every opera goer thinks you're singing just for him." 

 

Luciano Pavarotti discribed him: "the most beautiful timbre of any tenor since World War II."

Carreras began his farewell tour in October 2016. It is expected to last two or three years, as he explained: "I am trying to reach this end in a way that won't be too much of a shock for me. Slowly, slowly," says the artist, who lost his mother to cancer at age 17 and learned early on that every moment counts.

 

What will come after that final performance? Matter-of-factly, he adds, "I'll continue to sing under the shower. Count on it.»