One of the world's great operatic talents, Jose Carreras, is coming to Taipei's National Concert Hall this weekend, but even avid fans will have to grease the money wheels to catch the show. As of press time, only tickets in the NT$4,800, NT$6,000 and NT$8,000 price range remained, with the cheapest tickets, at NT$1,800, having sold out over a month ago.

For this visit to Taiwan, Carreras first took his show to Kaohsiung on Wednesday, where the city's cultural affairs bureau organized an open-air broadcast of his concert outside the city's Chih-te Hall. He sang 16 arias, among them his favorites Musica Proibita by Gastaldon and Tosti's No t'amo piu as well as an old Chinese song titled That far-off place for an encore.

A tireless performer, the Catalonian, known as one of the Three Tenors alongside Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, is stopping through Taiwan on a whirlwind Asian recital tour that will take in several cities in Japan after he leaves Taiwan. In his late 20s, Carreras was already widely hailed as a virtuosic singing talent and had performed lead operatic roles in the four great performance halls of the world; La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Vienna Staatsoper and the London Royal Opera House.

His career almost came to a tragic end in 1987 when he was diagnosed with acute lukemia. Given the miniscule chances of recovery from the disease, many have ascribed Carreras' survival to a miracle. His sickness only slowed him down temporarily, though, as he performs almost non-stop around the world and records new pieces constantly. For the Taipei recital, Carreras will sing the same 16 arias as in Kaohsiung taken from Bellini, Costa, Tosti, Ramirez, Toselli and Gastaldon, among others. He is also given to ending concerts with several spontaneous encores, as he did in Kaohsiung four times to thunderous applause. Accompanying him on piano will be Lorenzo Bavaj.

The recital begins at 7:30pm on Sunday at the National Concert Hall.

Copyright © 2001 Taipei Times