Mr. Carreras, your voice has sounded in the opera houses and concert halls of the world for three decades. Have you gotten used to fame? Has all that applause become routine?

José Carreras:Routine is deadly. Routine is the worst thing that can happen to an artist. My God, fame! Fame is a word for the schoolbooks. If my voice should fail, then it wouldn't matter how well known I was. My audience has very high expectations. They want to be won over anew at every performance.

But routine offers security.

José Carreras: In the life of a tenor there is no security. Naturally, you acquire some experience over time that helps you to manage critical situations. But my professional life hangs on a one-inch vocal cord, a very sensitive organ that is affected by a wide variety of factors - the climate, bacteria, even the common cold. Even the mood you are in exerts an influence. You are always tense. Of course, I have learned to manage it, but the tension is always there.

Does a tenor live on a razor's edge?

José Carreras:Always. You can compare it with the life of a trapeze artist who works up high without a net. I am always in danger of falling.

That's a very dramatic lifestyle.

José Carreras:It is a life-long test. The public expects quality from me.

Is that what connects you with the roles that you play? Risk as a principle of life?

José Carreras:We tenors have to live very smart, almost like athletes. I need to get enough sleep, I have to watch my nutrition, and I must be careful not to speak too much before I sing in a performance. You have to follow the rules if you want to be the best. Perhaps that is the connection to the romantic heroes I portray.

These stage heroes risk everything for a great love or a high ideal. You will wager everything you have on one card, one note - the F for example.

José Carreras:We must dare to push ourselves to our limits over and over again. It would be an exaggeration if I wanted to be seen as a hero for that. But yes, it is a risky life. Thank God it is only my profession.

You say you have to pay attention to what you eat?

José Carreras:When you sing you cannot eat anything heavy. Nothing spicy. You can't drink alcohol. Everybody has their own rules.

But aren't there some real heavyweight tenors?

José Carreras: That has more with the quantity than the quality of the food.

Does the singing exhaust you?

José Carreras: It is physical and intellectual work. You are tense for the entire day that you are going to sing. Then you have to try to prepare. That just increases the tension. Finally, you spend three hours on the stage. After the performance, many hours go by before I can relax again. Right afterwards, the adrenalin level is still tremendous. I can't just go somewhere, sing, and then leave. It's all the rest of it that gets to you. It starts in the morning and it doesn't end until the next day.

Do you sleep differently after a big performance?

José Carreras: Naturally. You get incredible satisfaction from giving it your very best. If you think you didn't give your all, doubts will just keep gnawing on you.

Then you sleep poorly?

José Carreras: Let's say not as well.

How many hours of sleep do you need to take care of your vocal cords?

José Carreras: Nine hours are ideal.

Has anyone ever studied the difference between the vocal cords of a gifted tenor and those of a mere mortal?

José Carreras: There is no explanation of why some vocal cords are capable of great feats and others are not. It also depends on the resonance space in the rib cage, which gives the voice a particular color. But we are certain that tenors have shorter vocal cords than baritones and basses.

Very much shorter?

José Carreras: The difference is just a few millimeters.

So it remains a bit of a mystery?

José Carreras: A doctor and I once examined the throat of Luciano Pavarotti together. I can assure you that we did not find any gold.

You have no explanation as to why your voice is your voice?

José Carreras: There is no physiological explanation. Besides talent, training and so on it is just an accident.

When did you notice for the first time that you had a gift?

José Carreras: I was six. I had been to the movies to see The Great Caruso with Mario Lanza. At home the next day, I began to sing some of the arias that I had heard. When my parents heard me sing, they decided to send me to the Conservatory here in Barcelona.

Your parents recognized your talent?

José Carreras: Even though they had no particular training or ability. They simply liked classical music.

And you were taken with the idea of becoming an opera singer?

José Carreras: Yes. When I was seven I already knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Did you have a role model?

José Carreras: Giuseppe di Stefano was my idol. I revere many of the great tenors of earlier times. Revering a singer is a tricky thing. I can just feel with some of them more than others. On stage I try to communicate to the audience what I feel when I hear di Stefano - this deep feeling, this stirring of emotion.

Were you convinced from the outset that your voice would be good enough?

José Carreras: I had no idea if I had enough talent. But I made a rock-hard commitment to exhaust all of my opportunities. I was very fortunate to get through the voice change in puberty without any problems, and then it turned out that I was a tenor. Another good fortune, because when you look at the bases and baritones, it is clear that we tenors are the most popular.

What fascinates you so about the tenor?

José Carreras: First of all it is the roles that the tenor plays, and the music that he sings. In a tenor, the manly disposition is combined with the boyish voice, which is why the composers choose us to play the romantic roles. We sound triumphant, dashing, bold, plucky, full of youthful strength and at the same time gentle and full of longing.

And erotic?

José Carreras: That is more our role. Voices in every range can sound erotic. Every libido responds to a variety of ranges. A bass can possess an enormous erotic potential.

Tenors are admired, but isn't there a lot of envy and jealousy?

José Carreras: That is part of the business. Maybe the baritones are jealous because they always have to play the fathers and the priests. I'm not serious. What you are calling jealousy has more to do with the roles. The most popular melodies are always written for the great lovers. And as a rule, that turns out to be the tenors.

Supposedly, Maria Callas could not stand tenors.

José Carreras: Naturally there are many anecdotes, but they usually just reflect the cliché. That she was a hysterical prima donna who threw a tantrum when she didn't receive the longest ovation. Quite honestly, that sort of thing goes on today in a very tiny percentage of cases.

Your performances with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo have changed the world of opera. Was that planned?

José Carreras: It just happened to us. Originally we wanted to give a concert in Rome at the Caracalla-Three men to mark the occasion of the Soccer World Cup.

Whose idea was that?

José Carreras: That's not so important. I had heard that the organization wanted to put on an unusual classical music concert and I suggested to them that the three of us perform together. I called up my colleagues and they agreed immediately. Besides, I had just gotten over my illness and the show was an excellent way to celebrate my return. But we did not have the slightest idea that anything like this would come of it.

A sort of opera pop tour?

José Carreras: What was important for me was our ability to reach a public that had never come in contact with this music before. Maybe they were shy, or they thought that there was nothing in this music for them. But going to a concert in a stadium was normal for them. Many people became opera lovers through these concerts.

There was a lot of criticism that you were trivializing classical music.

José Carreras: I respect the opinions of the purists. But I find it remarkable that the same people who criticize opera for being elitist also criticize us for performing in front of a hugh audience in an arena. I have no problem admitting that what we do fall somewhere between art and entertainment. What is wrong with that? Opera also began as entertainment. Every artist is a performer, an entertainer.

And that is how you started to make big money?

José Carreras: Big money? You only earn big money when a private individual is involved who can produce a record of who believes they can sell enough tickets to promote a huge concert event. At the public opera houses the fees are all fixed. The artistic directors set the fees. I accept that. You make money with records or with private initiatives.

Do you think people have an exaggerated idea of how much money you make?

José Carreras: I make good money, but certainly not as much as people think. And it would be dishonest not to add that I like having money. It is not the most important thing in my life, but I like it.

You often perform benefits for your foundation that fights leukemia. Did you start the foundation as a result of your own battle with the disease?

José Carreras: I feel that this is the only way for me to repay the debt I owe to society be cause I survived. I was fortunate to have my family and my friends all over the world, and to have truly great doctors. I had to fight constantly.

How long?

José Carreras: More than a year. During the ten months in the hospital, I was sometimes almost at the point of giving up. But something always gave me the strength I needed to go on.

Do you have an idea what that might have been?

José Carreras: Maybe I didn't want to lose the really important things in my life. And - I know this sounds a bit pathetic - I didn't want to disappoint the many people who sent me symbols of their solidarity.

Did you fear that you might survive but lose your voice?

José Carreras: Of course I wanted to sing again. Naturally that was another reason for me to fight for my life. But it got down to a fight for simple, naked survival. Ant at that time saving my voice played a secondary role.

That was not a too terrible idea?

José Carreras: No. By that time I had a huge career behind me already. It would have been a severe test. But I was ready for it.

Some of the great singers have lost their voices. Afterwards they went to pieces.

José Carreras: That must be very hard to take. Because a voice is not just a voice that makes a career possible. For us, the voice is the only possibility we have to express ourselves. It is for us what the language is for a writer. It is the instrument we use to open our hearts.

Have you ever thought about what you would do if you lost your voice?

José Carreras: As long as I were more or less healthy, I'm sure I would find something to do to keep working in the creative world. But I may be kidding myself about that.

Could you imagine yourself as a conductor?

José Carreras: I have no talent for that. I don't have the right stuff to be a conductor, a film director or a festival director. One of the advantages growing older is that you manage to discover your own limits.

Copyright © 2000 Audi Magazine.