On most improbable weekdays for artistic events – a Monday (May 31) and a Wednesday (June 2, also a holiday eve) -, tenor José Carreras sang before full  audiences at São Paulo’s HSBC Brasil Hall, with guest soprano Ailyn Perez, under the direction of Catalan conductor Miquel Ortega.

In a program marked by Neapolitan songs such as L’Última Canzone, by Francesco Paolo Tosti, Vurria, by Furio Rendine, and Passione, by Nicola Valente, as well as the best Latin tradition, represented by Lejana tierra mia, by Carlos Gardel, and musicals’ classics such as The Impossible Dream, by Mitch Leigh, José Carreras demonstrated, once again, why he is considered the one of a kind among tenors of its time. His vocal quality, strength and tenderness, associated to a so far unmatched elegance, both in his interpretation and scenic presence, have been rendering crowds and crowds of faithful and enthusiastic admirers everywhere.

In his seventh performance in Brazil – two in the year 1993 (Curitiba and São Paulo), one in 1996 (Rio de Janeiro), one in 1997 (São Miguel das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul), one in 2000 (with the Three Tenors), one in 2008 (Curitiba) and now in São Paulo, this was the first time in which the fight against leukemia was effectively a part of the show.

The stimulus to bone marrow donation was the central point of a touching tribute to José Carreras: with the help of two wide screens, audience was oriented to raise, on behalf of the cause, the colorful neon sticks distributed during the intermission, after the second bonus song, “Manhã de Carnaval”, sang in Portuguese, for everyone’s delight.

Within the program, the public found a very helpful flyer with all the necessary information on how one can become a bone marrow donor , save lives in life and be a part of Brazil’s bone marrow donators registry, REDOME, which has already reached 1,700 thousand registered donators.

REDOME was founded in 1993 in São Paulo and, after being closed for two years, was reopened by the Brazilian Government, through the Ministry of Health, in 1999. REDOME is headquartered in the Instituto Nacional do Câncer (INCA, Brazilian Nacional Cancer Institute, in Rio de Janeiro), a countrywide reference institution for cancer.  Its diversity has so far allowed 950 bone marrow transplants among non-relatives, including several benefitting foreign patients. REDOME is currently affiliated to the U.S. National Marrow Donors Program (NMDP) and  to the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW).

José Carreras, who recovered from Leukemia after a bone marrow transplant in the year 1987, has created the International José Carreras Foundation for the Fight Against Leukemia the following year, in his hometown Barcelona, and has been, ever since, the most tenacious defender of the cause all over the world.

The initiative of making the fight against leukemia a landmark of the recent concerts held in São Paulo was fully embraced by Dançar Marketing, the company producing the concerts, in a partnership with the Leukemia website www.guida.com.br, the first Brazilian website to raise awareness on the cause, which was created by Margarida De Finis Barros and inspired by José Carreras’ lifestory. Three top Brazilian institutions on bone marrow transplants were also partners on this action:  the Instituto Nacional do Câncer (INCA, Brazilian National Cancer Institute), the Associação da Medula Óssea (AMEO, Bone Marrow Association) , and the Grupo de Apoio ao Adolescente e à Criança com Câncer (GRAACC, Supporting Group for Adolescents and Children with Cancer).

Carreras receives Brazilian hearts against Leukemia

After the May 31st concert, José Carreras had a surprise:  he received from Margarida De Finis Barros and Maurette Brandt, from the website www.guida.com.br, a box full of paperwork hearts, each one with a stimulating message for bone marrow transplant patients. The hearts, produced out of Japanese origami paperwork technique, were made in São Paulo, inspired on a campaign promoted by the José Carreras Foundation, to reach 5 thousand hearts to support the fight against Leukemia (from Left to Right: José Carreras, soprano Ailyn Perez, Maurette Bandt, Margarida De Finis Barros, and Dr. Luis Fernando Bouzas, REDOME’s Director)

José Carreras also met Dr. Luis Fernando Bouzas, REDOME’s Director. Dr. Bouzas was trained in the Fred Hutchinson Research Institute, in Seattle, where Carreras underwent his bone marrow transplant. (From Left to Right: Dr. Luis Fernando Bouzas, Margarida De Finis Barros, José Carreras, and Maurette Brandt)

Maurette Brandt and Margarida De Finis Barros (Guida)
website: Bone Marrow Donation: Saving Lives while Alive
(Medula Óssea: Doar em Vida Salva)
www.guida.com.br

Dr.Luis Fernando Bouzas, Director  

Brazilian National Bone Marrow Donation Registry - Redome

Brazilian National Bone Marrow Receptors Registry - Rereme

Brazilian Umbilical Cord Blood Network - Rede BrasilCord

www.inca.gov.br

Sílvia D'Ippolito
Bone Marrow Association -AMEO

www.ameo.org.br

Dra.Adriana Seber

Supporting Group for Children and Adolescents with Cancer - GRAACC
www.graacc.org.br

World Soccer Cup 2010 in a Brazilian style

To celebrate the World Soccer Cup 2010 in a Brazilian style, Carreras was photographed holding the special football shirt created especially for him. It highlights the importance of the bone marrow anonymous donators – the team which wins all life-saving Cups.  The snapshot was taken during a confraternization with the team that maintains the Brazilian bone marrow information website  www.guida.com.br (from Left to Right: Margarida De Finis Barros, José Carreras, and Maurette Brandt)

Margarida (Guida), Carreras and Maurette

To Dançar Marketing, a very special thank you

In general, most companies usually state that they are made of people. It is rare, though, to find an organization in which people’s attitudes are, in fact, the most striking force to surprise us positively.  From the very first contact with Dançar Marketing Entertainment, the São Paulo producers of Mr. Carreras’ recent concerts, we felt that they really would make a difference. We contacted them in search of support for an idea: to associate, for the first time in Brazil, the issue of bone-marrow donation to a Carreras event. And we must say we ended up as all-time winners! Dançar Marketing, by the hands of Pedro Bianco, its President and CEO, cherished the idea and turned it into something much broader. From the whole team – Renata, Cristiane, Larissa, Carmen Silvia – we perceived a highly differentiated treatment, as well as a great sensibility and determination, fully supported by Pedro Bianco himself, to create something new and unique. Meanwhile, at Dançar’s New York Office, Vanisa worked dutifully to explain the whole idea to the tenor’s international producers.

The results were acclaimed by everyone of those gathered around this partnership – people from referential organizations which have been engaged, for many years, in the fight against Leukemia in Brasil: INCA-REDOME, AMEO, GRAACC and also our website.  The simple fact of watching people in the audience read the wonderful flyer on bone marrow donation prepared by Dançar Marketing and inserted on the Concerts programa, was pure happiness. But there was more: during intermission, the wide screens on the side wall invited the public to participate on a very original tribute to José Carreras: all they had to do was to hold and lighten, during the encores, one of the colored neon sticks that were being distributed to everyone in the audience.

That’s how it happened: two unforgettable concerts resulted in one huge and irreplaceable humanitarian action. We want to express our deepest thanks to Dançar Marketing for this spontaneous demonstration of concern for the human being, conducted with a tremendous touch of professionalism.