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Australian baritone José Carbó was born in Argentina of Spanish and Italian descent, and moved with his family to Australia at an early age. He has studied under the tutelage of Thais Taras, Arax Mansourian and Margaret Baker Genovesi in Rome. 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. Other roles performed 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 and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro for the Swiss Symphony Orchestra in concert in Lugarno. 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 sang Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Marcello (La bohème) for Opera Australia and another title role performance Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Queensland.

José Carbó has extensive experience on the concert platform: 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.

In 2009, he appears in Pagliacci and Cosi fan Tutte for Opera Australia and in Il Viaggio a Rheims at La Scala, Milan..