José Carreras turns 70 on December 5, but if he is at all perturbed about the impending milestone he isn’t letting on. Asked how he feels about becoming a septuagenarian, he says simply: “Oh, it’s great!”

As his birthday approaches, the legendary tenor has been doing what he has always loved to do best – sing for his fans. Critics may carp that the voice has lost its famous lustre but adoring audiences have been turning up in droves on his current world tour, which, over the course of two years, is taking him through Europe, Asia, the Middle East and America.

Billed as the “Final World Tour”, José Carreras: A Life in Music arrives in Australia in February for concerts in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne. He will perform with the Melbourne and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, conducted by his nephew David Giménez, who has wielded the baton for him on many occasions.

Speaking to Limelight from Berlin, Carreras seems to be relishing being back on the road, describing all the travel as “part of the game… it’s not bothering me too much,” he says. “It’s great to have the possibility to go back to many of the places I’ve been singing...