In my concert program for the José Carreras recital in Tokyo on November 12, 1999, there was a essay written by the noted theater director, Amon Miyamoto, who calls Carreras "my hero". In it Miyamoto writes about his first encounter with Carreras' singing, his moving experience at the tenor's comeback concert in 1989 and a conversation with his hero when he had the chance to interview the tenor for a magazine. I enjoyed reading it because it is a rare voice of an ardent male fan. Here is my informal translation of Miyamoto's essay, Seeing Him Again Tonight from My Behind-the-stage Seat.....

"I heard myself mumbling, 'It's very different.' In my room in London, during my study there, I heard the voice of José Carreras for the first time coming out of my record player. I remember it was an aria from La Traviata.

Until then, I'd heard many big-ego Alfredos, who obviously wanted to be No. 1 in producing high notes. There was clear line between the voice of Carreras I heard that day and those of the rest. Evidently, Carreras' voice was radiating a different glow. All there was, was sound, but as I listened to it, a young naive man, Alfredo, jumped into my heart from the drama as a live character. Since then José Carreras has been the object of my keen interest. This happened 15 years ago.

10 years after this dramatic encounter with him, I was blessed with the opportunity to interview Carreras in person. It was in 1993, four years after his miraculous comeback from his battle against leukemia.

Carreras had become my idol by then. I sincerely thought I wanted to mature like him year after year and to open my heart, like he does, and grow as a man. So I was pretty excited about the interview; I was tense as well. Hiding my throbbing heart behind my forced cheerful voice, I started out with the topic about the film The Great Caruso. I remembered Carreras saying in an interview that film was his first encounter with the opera at about six. The film was my favorite too, and I had decided in advance to ask him if he was really fascinated with it.

The film is more like a Hollywood musical, an American interpretation of opera removed from its original European context. Quite a few criticized the film as being shallow. Nevertheless, José Carreras, one of the world's greatest tenors, proudly said in my interview that his life began with this film and the film was very important and was still his favorite. I sympathized with him very much, and I felt more relaxed.

After that we had lively discussion, helped by his friendly character. I got comfortable enough to confess to him, 'You are my idol.' and even wound up revealing my unforgettable first-time experience with his recital.

It surprise-attacked me in 1989 in Suntory Hall, where Carreras held his concert to celebrate his comeback from the illness. Because I was late in going to the ticket office, only behind-the-stage seats were available.

It's hard to be in a concert seeing the singer's back all the time. Admitting his rich vocal expression, I regretted not being able to see him from the front. He sang a few encores, and at the third or fourth, to my surprise, he turned around and sang the entire song for us behind the stage.

Although I'd been to many concerts, I had never seen a singer singing a whole song turning his back on most of the audience. It was beyond my imagination.

People on behind-the-stage seats have to put up with seeing the singer's back all the time, but they are relatively close to him in distance. That night Carreras was singing a song for us at close range. The song was so full of feelings and love that we felt like calling it his gift to us. People around me were moved to tears, and I couldn't stop my tears either. I hid my face with my hands pretending not to be crying a big way.

In my life, I'd never had such an intense experience. There was times when I couldn't stop crying watching a TV drama, but not a single song had ever moved me so much. What was happening?

We were moved not simply because Carreras turned around and sang a song for us but because he communicated everything he had to us. At this comeback concert after his hard experience fighting the disease, he hadn't even had his hair fully grown. But he sang every single word and note with great care. To be honest, he didn't look like a man with fully recovered power, but his voice was surprisingly rich, expressive and full of drama. The voice had a depth, and revealed deep inside it was his life. I was tremendously moved although I didn't understand a single word he was saying.

Disclosing to Carreras this experience of mine, I asked if he thought of singing to the people behind the stage on the spur of the moment. He said he had been doing the same for a long time and that he liked a family-like atmosphere of a recital. Unlike in opera, where singers in full costume confront the audience, he said he felt the recital audience embracing and protecting him. He said he was happy that night feeling the people behind the stage, where I was, embracing him as well. With a gentle smile on his face, he said that he wanted to make a family in the theater.

His topic moved on to his family. He opened up and talked to me about his private matter as well, including how much his late mother's love sustained him when he was in hospital fighting the disease. When our conversation was just about to climax, however, my interpreter burst into tears listening to his talk. She left the room saying 'Please excuse me' and didn't come back for about five minutes. She did come back, but she wasn't much of a help any more in our understanding each other for the rest of my interview. I wished I could ask him more about his family. I still regret that I couldn't.

In my opinion, José Carreras, unlike the other two of the Three Tenors, is a man filled with life-size human warmth. The quality makes people feel pure love. I feel undescribable comfort in Mozart's life-size, human opera in contrast with revolutionary Verdi's and divine Wagner's. There is something common between Mozart's music and Carreras' voice: a human touch.

I think this human touch of Carrreras in the opera remains in the audience's heart as something very fresh. People no longer deify opera; the audience seeks reality in it. Today, star singers are no longer gods. People want to know the stars as fellow humans. I think Carreras is a singer perfectly fit today when people want to have their emotions lifted up with this human touch.

Every time I see his opera, I feel him as nothing but a permanent presence, in the good sense of the words, regardless of who his stage partner may be. He doesn't seem to push his acting and artistic style onto the audience. He is just present in the opera, gets into the character's heart, and loves a women and feels tormented. Because he develops the drama in a simple, matter-of-fact way, the audience finds it easy to empathize.

Even in a costume, Carreras doesn't get loud; there is always a man Carreras. To express pain, he just lets the pain come out naturally. He might grow a beard to look different, but he wouldn't overact to draw audience attention. He doesn't show off and doesn't even try to demand an applause. His performance makes me feel as though I were watching a realistic drama or a simple modern play.

In my analysis, this comes from his simple feeling -- love of singing -- flowing as undercurrent. Because he learned the fun and joy of singing through The Great Caruso and Neapolitan folk songs, he sings every wonderful song regardless of genre, including musical and pops. He infuses his emotion into these songs without any frills on top. This is perhaps why everyone feels pleasant in his singing.

This time Carreras is in Japan for recitals, not opera. I've heard he will sing with only a piano or with an orchestra. I'm already fascinated imagining it.

Unlike opera, a recital involves many different songs, through which the artist's self reveals naturally. Because each song requires an expression from a totally different world view, the artist cannot hide his dramaturgy, skills of expression and musical ability. The recital unveils what the artist is much more than the opera does; no faking is allowed there.

I'm looking forward to seeing him again on stage all the more because I know Carreras as a man who fully lives his life in a dignified manner, nonstop. He remains my idol, and I would like him to let me closely observe anew how he matures with age.

This will be my first José Carreras recital since the one in Suntory Hall that I previously mentioned. This time I want to choose to see him from a seat behind the stage.

One's back looks plain but tells a lot of one's life. What kind of life story will his back tell us? My excitement grew when I heard of his coming to Japan."