Thursday night's concert at Carnegie Hall was, in my opinion, one of the best concerts I have ever heard José Carreras give. Everything came together perfectly.

Carreras was in excellent voice and appeared to be relaxed and rested. He was accompanied by a first class orchestra-the Orchestra of St. Luke's-who were in turn conducted by the promising young Catalan conductor David Giminez. The excellent acoustics of Carnegie Hall showed both off at their best-without amplification. Pure sound. No distortions, no harsh sounds.

The evening's program included many Spanish and Catalan songs. A number of them were songs I had only heard Carreras sing on recordings previously-never in person. He began with two familiar Neapolitan-'Luna Nova' and 'Era di Maggio'. These were followed by another familiar favorite, the overture from Verdi's "I vespri siciliani".

Carreras returned and spoke briefly to the audience about the events of September 11th and then said that he would like to sing a prayer, a prayer in his own language, Catalan. The audience was very moved by his singing of 'Pregaria' and by his acknowledgement of the terrible events of just a month before.

'Pregaria' was followed by the de Falla portion of the program. First, the orchestra and Giminez played the 'Interlude and Dance No. 1' from de Falla's opera, "La vida breve". This was followed by Carreras singing the 'Seven Spanish Songs'. The Carnegie audience was wonderful; they held their applause until the end of the seventh song and then gave him a resounding ovation!

Following the intermission, Carreras returned to sing several Italian favorites-'Musica proibita', 'Serenata', 'Vurria'-and then returned to Spain for 'Cancisn hzngara' and 'Roso'. Two orchestral selections were also included in the second half of the concert-the overture from Bernstein's "Candide" and a very spirited rendition of the intermezzo from Jersnimo Giminez's "La boda de Luis Alonso".

I had only previously heard 'Cancisn hzngara'-from the zarzuela "Alma de Dios" by Serrano-on recordings, never in a live performance, so this was a special treat for me to hear this in a live performance. It was vintage Carreras. Listening to him sing 'Cancisn hzngara' Thursday night, it was hard to believe that it has been more than 20 years since he made that first recording of zarzuela selections.

The final song on the program was the Catalan song 'Roso'. Hearing this brought back memories of sitting on steps of the cathedral in Gerona [Catalunya] at a concert in 1998-listening to his voice echo off of the medieval walls of the cathedral square and watching many in the audience that night moved to tears.

The evening's encores included 'All the things you are', 'Core n`grato', 'Some Enchanted Evening' and 'Granada'. In all, the encores number at least six, if not seven, songs, each enthusiastically received by audience.

This concert was part of a Carnegie Hall series, one that includes the pianist Marta Argerich and baritone Bryn Terfel, rather than a stand-alone performance. This meant that there were many in the audience who attended because it was part of a series they had selected, rather than because they were fans of José Carreras. Initially, they were polite and appreciative, but not wildly enthusiastic. That changed by the end of the evening!

The Orchestra of St. Luke's and their conductor of the evening, David Giminez, making his Carnegie Hall debut, also contributed to this perfect night of song. Never once did I have the feeling that I was listening to a competition between singer and orchestra. This was the second time I have heard this orchestra conducted by Giminez and they have obviously had a great rapport with him. They were also very appreciative of Carreras, applauding him at the end of the program as enthusiastically as the audience.