The Classical BRIT awards take place this Thursday, and after the great night t5m had at the nominations hosted by Myleene Klass a few weeks back, it stands to be a fantastic event. Of course we will be there, bringing you exclusive access to all the biggest stars in classical music at Royal Albert Hall from Katherine Jenkins to Hayley Westernra and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

However, ahead of the buzz of excitement, Jose Carreras has announced his retirement from opera. It comes at an interesting time for the youngest of the iconic ‘Three Tenors’  who will be this year’s recipient of the lifetime achievement award at the award ceremony.  Carreras has said that he can no longer meet the demands of constant performing and travelling:

“If I can do concert recitals and adapting the repertoire to my own needs, then no problem. But with operas, unless the right circumstances come up, my career is done”.

Jose’s retirement leaves Placido Domingo as the only member of the Three Tenors still performing; Luciano Pavarotti died in 2007 aged 71 from pancreatic cancer.

 The group received worldwide fame and success, their participation in a benefit concert at the World cup tournament in Italy in 1990 was watched by an estimated 800 million viewers. “Without being presumptuous” Carreras says, “we were the most popular tenors of the day. And the viewing figures of Italia ’90 made us even more popular…We did it in a very genuine and spontaneous way. We thought, let’s get together. We were all football fans”.

We are all very excited about meeting such a legendary and extraordinary man at the Classical BRITs this Thursday.