|
Montserrat Caballé was born in Barcelona on 12 April 1933. She has become Spain's
greatest living soprano. She trained for 12 years at the Barcelona Liceo
and won the Liceo gold medal in
1954.
Joining Basel Opera in 1956 she
built up an impressive repertory of roles, Tosca,
Aida, Arabella
and Salome. Between 1956 and
1965 she sang with a number of European Houses, Bremen, La Scala, Vienna,
Barcelona, Lisbon and then to Mexico City in 1964 as Massenet's Manon.
She achieved overnight stardom in New York in 1965 replacing Marilyn Horne
at short notice in a concert performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia
Borgia.
Since that time she has been
sought after by Houses throughout the world and has revived many rare
Donizetti operas, both in concert and in the opera house.
Montserrat Caballé is one of
the few operatic singers to have had a pop record on the charts. Freddie
Mercury, the late lead singer of the rock band Queen, was a fan of her
work and it on meeting her they sang at the piano all night. He had
written a piece for her, Exercises in free love,
which she performed live for the first time as a surprise at a recital in
London, in his presence. They became firm friends and the album Barcelona
was recorded with lyrics by Tim Rice amongst others. The single from the
album charted twice in the UK and was a success the world over bringing
new fans to this remarkable woman.
Her voice has a creaminess and
power which is unsurpassed. Her ability to float a note pianissimo is
unrivaled. She is considered to have become the leading
Verdi and Donizetti soprano of her time.
In 1964 she married Bernabe
Marti. She is mother to Montserrat Marti,
who is now a soprano in her own right, and her son Bernabe Jr. Montserrat
Caballé has also helped the career of Jose
Carreras who sang tenor with her on a number of occasions,
he is to Montserrat what Lucianno Pavarotti was to Dame Joan Sutherland.
She has brought the world of
opera to a youthful audience and has brought Zarzuela and Spanish songs to
an international audience. Throughout her career she has been plagued by
ill health and marked by controversy she has retained a warmth and good
humour. Montserrat Caballé is one of the world's greatest proponents of opera.
|
