José Carbó - baritone Australian baritone José Carbó was born in Argentina of Spanish and Italian descent, and moved with his family to Australia at an early age, where he completed his musical studies at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in Sydney. He was the winner of the prestigious Australian Singing Competition Opera Award in 2005.
José made his début with Australia’s principal opera company, Opera Australia, in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos (in 2002), and was soon engaged for their production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, in the title role. Meanwhile, for Opera Queensland, he starred in their production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the title role. He was a principal singer in the world première of John Haddock’s Madeline Lee at the Sydney Opera House which was greeted with great critical acclaim. His European début was in Madrid, at the Opera Real, where he sang once again the title role in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia; he was re-engaged by this theatre to sing the role of Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore (February 2006); his performances in the Rossini opera also led to an engagement as Dandini in La Cenerentola for the Festival in La Coruña, in Spain’s northern region of Galicia. His performed roles in Europe include another Figaro – this time in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (September 2005) for Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera. 2006 engagements included Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor in Christchurch, Escamillo in Carmen for Otago University, Rambaldo in La Rondine for the Sydney Symphony, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro for Teatro dell’Opera, Dandini for the Bolshoi Opera in Moscow and in concert with the Swiss Symphony Orchestra.  In 2007, he sang Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Australia; he repeated the latter role for State Opera of South Australia. In 2008, he sings Enrico and Marcello (La bohème) for Opera Australia. José Carbó has extensive experience in the concert field: his performed repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mass in C and Choral Symphony, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, the Fauré’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Ralph Vaughan-Williams Mass in C minor with the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand.  In October 2006, José undertook a tour as the baritone soloist with the Sydney Symphony to Japan where he sang three Don Quixote songs by Ravel in Tokyo and Osaka.  He will return to the SSO in 2008 as well as The Queensland Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia.