Final world tour: Jose Carreras’ life in music

RIGA - As one of the world’s opera grandees, the Spanish tenor Jose Carreras has been acclaimed as one of great operatic vocal artists of the last 50 years.
A musical child prodigy, Carreras has enjoyed half a century of adulation. He has mesmerised audiences worldwide with a voice of extraordinary beauty, one that processes great lustre, dramatic tone, and dynamic intent.
He will long be remembered for his musical collaboration with two other great world tenors, Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.

Known worldwide as The Three Tenors, they achieved an almost rock star status. Touring and stepping up to the world’s biggest stages, the three transformed and reenergized opera, turning it into an unprecedented global phenomenon, and showing that opera can be a lucrative art form.
Currently embarking on an extensive musical odyssey of the world, Carreras’ Final World Tour, A Life in Music, will see him performing in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Sunday, Feb. 14 at the Siemens Arena. A Valentine’s Day treat if ever there was one.

Then, in the Latvian capital of Riga, on Feb. 20 he will take to the stage at the Riga Arena in what promises to be a highly charged and emotional concert.
Carreras will be accompanied in concert by the Kaunas Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the Spanish conductor David Gimenez.

Gimenez has an exceptional understanding of the human voice. He collaborates regularly with Carreras, as well other numerous notable world vocal artists, such as Placido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, and Bryn Terfel.
Carreras will also be joined on the concert podium by the Irish soprano Celine Byrne, whose compelling and thrilling performances have won her the universal acclaim of audiences and critics across the opera world.

“It is a great honour for me to perform in Vilnius and Riga during my final World Tour! Both are such wonderful cities, full of cultural heritage and great musical traditions!” Carreras told The Baltic Times.
“And I remember the warmth of the audience in Riga which welcomed me so heartfully!”
“My musical programme for my concert will consist of opera, operetta, and songs. It is a very personal choice and I do hope that people will like it because the melodies are so wonderful!”
“In all these songs it is the passion, the emotion, a feeling in my heart and soul that I attempt to express with my voice. It is my musical ode to life,” said Carreras.

Carreras’ will also present an aria from the opera El Juez (The Judge) by the Austrian composer Christian Kolonovits.
Carreras celebrated his highly acclaimed and “triumphant return to the opera stage” in this opera.
After performances at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in Jan. 2015, the star tenor will portray the role at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on July 2 of this year.
A Life in Music endeavors to take the audience on a journey through Carreras’ illustrious operatic journey, to tell his intimate story and his love for music.

Giant screens, placed in the concert venues, will be used to highlight parts of Carreras’ legendary and long career.
“This is a complete new concert format, especially designed for my Final World Tour,” said Carreras.
Regarding to Carreras’ forthcoming visit to Vilnius on Febr. 14 and Riga on Febr. 20, he said: “I am very curious to see at least a little bit of both these wonderful cities, and I very much hope that it will not be too cold! In any case I will bring a warm scarf … ( laughs). I am also a great fan of Art Deco era.”

Apart from his opera and concert performances, Carreras dedicates much of his time to the Jose Carreras Leukemia Foundation, which he established after he was successfully treated for leukemia in 1988.
To date the foundation has raised more than 250 million euros.
Carreras intends, when he retires from performing, to fully devote himself to his foundation and its work in the fight against leukemia, “to try to give some hope to people who are suffering from the disease.
Further information on the Jose Carreras Leukemia Foundation and ways to donate can be found at www.fcarreras.org
But Carreras’ visit to both Vilnius and Riga will be about music, and undoubtedly also his life’s greatest key love affair, his audiences.

“I have great emotion every time I go on stage. Nothing in life gives me the same satisfaction that my profession gives me.” Carreras has stated.
The orchestra has developed into versatile collective specializing in various genres of classical, contemporary music. It has undertaken  crossover projects with such groups as “The Scorpions”, “Smokie”, “Electric Light Orchestra”, and its recording of  Verdi’s opera  “Simon Boccanegra,”  featuring an internationally star-studded cast (Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Barbara Frittoli, Stefano Secco) received critical acclaim.

Carreras’s Feb. 20 concert at the Riga Arena (21 Skanstes street) will commence at 8:00 in the evening.
Tickets, priced from 39 to 149 euros, can be purchased through www.bilesuserviss.lv