The Three Tenors is the name that was given to the group formed by Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The two Spanish singers – Domingo and Carreras and the Italian Pavarotti sang together under the name of The Three Tenors in the 1990′s and even in the early 2000s. The Three Tenors began to collaborate on July 7, 1990 when they first performed together for the eve of the FIFA World Cup Final of that year. The show was held in Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy and the The Three Tenors were accompanies by the orchestra of Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Maggio Musicale Fiorentiono, under the lead of Zubin Mehta. The idea of this collaboration belonged to Mario Dradi, an Italian producer. He had the idea of the concert hoping to raise money for the charitable foundation Carreras established after being successfully cured of leukemia. Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti were invited to welcome him back through this amazing concert.

After this first concert, The Three Tenors continued to collaborate. Tibor Rudas, a Hungarian producer was involved in the making of their performances and The Three Tenors made a tradition of singing at the the FIFA World Cup finals. In 1994, The Three Tenors sang before the final match on the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, in the United States of America. In 1998, The Three Tenors made a wonderful show at the Champ de Mars, under the Eiffel Tower, in Paris and in 2002, they were present in Yokohama.

The concerts of The Three Tenors were always huge successes. The Three Tenors also sold records and the one named The Three Tenors in Concert has the Guinness World Record for being the best-selling record of classical music. Their usual repertoire was inspired from Broadway, from Neapolitan songs and also pop hits. The most famous songs of The Three Tenors were Nessun Dorma from Turandot, one of Puccini’s operas and O Sole Mio, which they all sang together. Their collaboration was a huge success, but was also criticized by purists who maintained their opinion that opera is not for anyone. The concerts that The Three Tenors gave were held in huge venues, like stadiums, where anybody had access. Defenders of the opera said that Wagner this not conceived it for such a wide audience, but as a “complete work of art” for a smaller public. Truth be told, The Three Tenors introduced this genre to a wide audience that was not aware of the beauty of it until their collaboration.