The Lucky Tenor - José Carreras turns 75 years

Based on his fight against leukemia, the film shows how Carreras reinvented himself and not only with his voice became an icon.

It was the existential turning point of a career that until then had known mainly triumphs: During a rehearsal, José Carreras learns that he has leukemia – an almost certain death sentence in 1987. He is transferred from Barcelona to a special clinic in Seattle. His only chance is a therapy that until then was considered impossible: stem cell transplantation. He survives the disease and feels a real commitment to others suffering from leukemia. Starting with the cancer and the subsequent healing as the frame story, the film tells the stages of a world career in an associative and emotional way, jumping back and forth. Tightly edited archive footage brings these chapters to life. Newly filmed material shows the most important scenes from Carreras’ life and career. In addition, interviews with prominent companions, contemporaries and experts as well as a central interview with the jubilarian himself reflect a dramatic biography without slipping into one-sided hero worship. Cross-genre greetings and birthday serenades from Pretty Yende to Diana Damrau and from Plácido Domingo to David Garrett demonstrate the high regard in which the artists’ colleagues hold his life’s musical achievements and document the enormous impact José Carreras continues to make.

Original title The Lucky Tenor - José Carreras turns 75 years
Genre Documentary
Duration 45 & 52 mins
Production year 2021
Production Company sounding images
Co-Production Company WDR, SWR, BR, C Major Entertainment
Director Beatrix Conrad, Claus Wischmann
Producer Elmar Kruse, Claus Wischmann