It's concrete. It's acoustically challenged. It's a few notches below what one would consider alluring.

But scan the list of artists who have performed within the Redding Convention Center since the facility opened in 1969, and you'll spy an impressive name or two. They include Duke Ellington, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Garrison Keillor.

And next year it appears it will host another giant - Jose Carreras.

Carreras, one of the famed "Three Tenors" with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, is set to perform a May 7 show, which will be sponsored by the city of Redding.

"We want to bring in one high-caliber performer a year, or at least every couple of years," said Rita Vokal, the city's acting director of community services. "Jose Carreras is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I think, for people in Redding."

The city is betting the concert will be a hit in the same fashion as the Bolshoi Ballet in 1999 and "A Prairie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor in 2000. When Carreras performed in a similar-sized theater - the Luther Burbank Center - in Santa Rosa in 1999, the show sold out in 15 minutes.

Known as one of the great tenors in history, it's also notable that the Spaniard overcame acute leukemia in 1987. His original "Three Tenors" concert with Domingo and Pavarotti in Rome in 1990 raised money for his international leukemia foundation.

It certainly pays well to be one of the top names in opera. Carreras' contract for the Redding show will be about $130,000.

Vokal said tickets will likely go on sale in November, in time to be purchased as Christmas gifts. Tickets will be sold for $40, $65, $90, $125 and $250. The high-end ticket will include a champagne reception with Carreras himself.

Copyright © 2001 Redding Record Searchlight