WORLD-renowned opera singer Jose Carreras flew into Edinburgh yesterday and told how a heartfelt letter from a West Lothian grandmother had led to his first concert in the capital for 20 years.

The tenor will perform in Edinburgh’s refurbished Usher Hall tonight in a gala concert to raise more than £250,000 for leukaemia research.

The event came about after widow Betsy Stirling wrote to the singer following the death of her opera-loving husband, Sheriff Hamish Stirling, from leukaemia in 1998. Carreras had suffered from lymphoblastic leukaemia in the late 1980s.

The singer responded immediately that he would be delighted to perform here.

Yesterday, Carreras told how he was moved by the widow’s plea: "I was touched the way Betsy Stirling wrote to us. From the very first moment, you could tell there was a moral vigorousness about the request.

"I’m very happy to be here because together with the Stirling family ... we are sharing common goals. We all feel leukaemia should be a disease curable in every case."

The Usher Hall event, to be televised by the BBC, is on course to be the highest grossing charity concert ever held in Scotland. The money raised will go towards Carreras’ own leukaemia research foundation and will fund a three year research project in Scotland.

While in Edinburgh, Carreras received an honorary degree from Napier University, his first from a Scottish university.

The concert will be shown on BBC1 Scotland on Sunday 10 December at 10.15pm.

A special hotline number has been set up to allow people to make donations to the Leukaemia Research Trust for Scotland. Tel: 0870 242 3232.

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