- (female narrator): In Mexico, singer Alan Pingarron became widely known through the Opera Prima show.

- (dubbed): My dream is to continue to develop myself as an opera singer so that I can play roles in opera productions that I really like.

- While in France, it was The Voice that helped Vincent Vinel find stardom.

- (dubbed): My passion, my whole life is about making music.

- But it was their exceptional talent that made these two friendly musicians darlings of their respective publics, and much more than just a passing fad.

Blind or partially-sighted, the musicians featured in this series are living out their musical dreams.

Their stories are examples of hard work, dedication and passion that lead us all share in the wonder of truly...

In the Daniel Garza neighborhood, near the heart of Mexico City, we find the magnificent Chapultepec Park.

And today, the birds aren't the only ones who are singing.

(singing opera) That is the voice of Alan Pingarron, a young opera singe who has been blind since birth.

This quiet young adult who is enjoying a day in the park with his dad is, in fact, well-renowned on Mexico's music scene, thanks in large part to a remarkable appearance on a popular reality TV series which features classical singers.

(singing opera) (flutes playing) - (Alan): The pianist with whom I worked in the San Miguel de Allende Opera Contest, told me that he thought I could be an opera singer and invited me to do a concert of singles.

From there, I was invited to participate in the reality show, Opera Prima, the Voices of the Bicentennial.

I didn't want to take part because all of my peers were putting on airs.

At the time, we very young and easily influenced.

And when they realized CONACULTA would be there, they all started saying how Opera Prima was going to transform the lives of the singers.

Big names would be there, like Plácido Domingo, Fernando de la Mora and so on.

The truth is, we were treated with a lot of respect, and I have to say that unlike other reality shows, Opera Prima was seen as an actual singing contest.

(opera playing) When I perform at an Opera, you have the opportunity to get to know the stage and the space, but there, I had to start without recognising the space around me, and to feel the place for the first time.

At that point, the audience took note of my visual impairment.

I came in second and won the audience award.

The audience was very generous with me, and in a way, that was a major moment in my life, both professionally and personally.

- Alan enjoys walking around the neighborhood with his father and his great friend from childhood, Imelda Reyes, who is also visually impaired.

- I was born blind, visually impaired.

I was lucky in that my parents tried to give me a normal childhood just like everyone else's.

I loved everything that had to do with art and cardio workouts.

Those activities helped me to develop in a normal way, and I adapted everything to what I was capable of doing.

They allowed me to develop as a person, first within my family, then at school, and later in a professional environment.

- In Coupvray, France, at number 13 of the street which bears his name, we find the childhood home of Louis Braille, a figure well known to all but especially to the visually impaired.

(♪♪♪) One regular visitor here is the musician Vincent Vinel, a proud sponsor of The Association of Friends of the Museum.

- Here we are in the birthplace of Louis Braille, the inventor of braille, and here is my piano.

It's not his, it is, in fact, mine.

(not dubbed): ♪♪ Just close your eyes ♪ ♪ Until the end of this song ♪ - Though he began as an unknown busker playing in train stations on public pianos, he is now a celebrity in France following his appearanc on the popular reality TV series The Voice: La plus belle voix, where he was a finalist.

- ♪ I fell asleep ♪ ♪ Someone loving me ♪ ♪ Who's looking for a way ♪ (dubbed): This is kind of like the high church of all the world's non-sighted people and, what's more, it's kind of an honor, obviously, every time I can come here and play and make music.

In fact, the first time that I came here, I told myself right away, when you come here, there's this immediate atmosphere and the acoustics are different than in a traditional room, because this room is from a different era.

I mean, the sound moves around in a different way, so it's interesting to play here.

(not dubbed): ♪ Please tell the one ♪ ♪ Who tore it off ♪ ♪ Just tell the one that I never saw ♪ ♪ Don't want to be an orphan ♪ (dubbed): Hourglass, which is my song, which is the last song which I released, it talks about the reality of being an orphan - because I was adopted.

I was adopted when I was just two years old.

It's about trying to explain that even with all that happens, with all that's happened, we can't blame our biological parents for having given us up.

And we thank our new parents for having accepted us.

(not dubbed): ♪ Did you believe ♪ ♪ That my tears would fade away ♪ ♪ Resting on my keyboard ♪ ♪ I don't really want to go ♪ ♪ First page missing from my score ♪ ♪ Please tell the one who tore it off ♪ ♪ Just tell the one that Inever saw ♪ ♪ Don't want to be an orphan ♪♪ - Vincent takes his role as ambassador to the museum of Louis Braille very seriously.

- (dubbed): We are in the supply room with Farida Saidi, who is the director of the museum, and I'm so happy to be with you.

- (dubbed): I reached out to you because we can never have too many people helping to promote braille these days.

The reason I asked you to help me to, really, to save braille, is so that blind children can have an education worthy of the name, and so that blind people can, even without seeing, live a dignified life in this world.

- The cause you support, and, I think, that many more people should be supporting, making culture and education accessible to all, is something which really affects everyone.

- The issue of blindness, you know, it's not just me saying this, or just you, not just the Louis Braille Museum or associations for the blind - it's the WHO which has said that blindness, visual impairment will be the Alzheimer's Disease of tomorrow.

Braille, today, is really, seriously in danger.

That's true in part because new technologies often seem to render it moot.

So often, it's the case that blind people are told: "well, you don't need braille, no need for braille books.

"You have computers, voice synthesizers."

(♪♪♪) In this peaceful corner of Mexico City, it is not unusual for passersby to hear Alan's powerful and resonant voice.

Especially when he is singing in the inner courtyard of his parent's house.

(opera singing) He warms up his voice even as he continues cutting papaya for his family.

It's a stressful day for him as he must soon record very unusual contemporary opera.

He discusses it at the table, where he is sitting with his mother and father.

- (dubbed): A month ago, I was invited to participate in a new opera, composed by eight musicians and written by eight writers, excuse the redundancy.

Today we have a second recording session because we're working remotely, figuring out how to manage the technology at a distance because the director, the stage director and the opera producer will be there.

We've been coordinating things for the last 15 days and honestly, I've been really nervous because it's a new opera and the music is very complicated.

- (dubbed): It's a different kind of project than you've done before, son.

(men singing, guitar and piano playing) - To relieve his stress, Alan sits down at the piano in his family's living room.

His dad picks up a guitar, and they sing popular songs together as a duo.

This is a routine which they've been doing since his youth.

- (dubbed): Our family is very musical.

We really love music.

I met my wife because of music and I believe this is Alan's musical inheritance.

That deep love that was born in him.

And that's where it's rooted.

He's a musical offshoot, and we are very proud of him.

(♪♪♪) - At the Louis Braille museum, Vincent and Farida offer us a tour of the garden, which has been transformed into a full sensory experience which aims to stimulate senses other than sight, especially smell and touch.

- (dubbed): Vincent, we are in the garden of five senses.

- (dubbed): Yes, this is my favourite garden.

It's my garden.

In fact, I had shaken baby syndrome, by which I mean that at birth, they shook me and it gave me lesions, brain lesions.

So, I've always had problems seeing.

My eyes technically see, but my brain doesn't analyze the information.

And that's it.

- We have taste, here we have smell, with lots of fragrant plants.

You have plants you can touch over here.

- Me, I was born in Bulgaria.

I was adopted when I was two and a half years old, when my parents came to visit.

I didn't speak during the entire time I spent with them.

I didn't speak at all.

And then, one day, they took me and brought me to a park.

And there was Bulgarian music which was blaring from some speakers.

And at that moment, I just began singing.

That was my first verbal and vocal exchange with them.

It was music.

(♪♪♪) Alan has a great relationship with his dad, with whom he loves spending time.

It was thanks to his dad that, when he was young, he discovered his great passion: music.

As well as singing, he has played the guitar, the drums and the piano, and has accompanied his father in a repertoire that goes well beyond classical.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): Thanks to that I developed a real love of music.

And when I was 13, I started studying music in braille with my teacher Leonardo Mortera, who also taught me to sing.

Since he studied composition and singing, he taught three of us singing and two of us, piano.

It was then that he taught me parts of operas from the baroque period.

- Alan is still in touch with his former singing teacher, Leonardo Mortera.

He heads over to his place to warm up his voice before going in for the recording session.

(vocalizations) - (dubbed): Don't let it go!

Alan was 13 years old and his voice was changing.

So, we started studying musicography, learning how to read music in braille.

We did this before his voice finished changing, before we could actually start working the voice.

Of course, Alan's voice was a little thinner then, it wasn't the huge voice it is now.

But it's undeniable that he had the musicality, the intuition, the sensitivity.

He could resolve many things with his voice, despite not having the technique.

(vocalizations) The voice is never static, it's always changing along with the person.

There's a big difference between playing the piano, playing the guitar and singing.

You feel what the piano feels, because you are the piano.

You feel what the piano feels when it's being played.

As humans, our whole environment affects us.

So, we have to maintain a certain balance, because we are the instrument and also, the instrumentalist.

With music, you need to tune in to sensation, to be much more sensitive to what is happening on the inside.

The best thing is to tell someone to close their eyes.

Alan already has his closed.

That's the starting point, it's beautiful.

Then, we have to make a memory of sensations, many of which are very fluid.

(piano playing) - It's been a real honor for me, not only to discover an excellent teacher but also, an excellent person who's been with me through thick and thin.

(He sings in a foreign language.)

- Alan's career has barely begun and yet already he has sung on some of the biggest stages in the world, whether in Moscow or at the Royal Opera in London.

This young man nicknamed the Mexican Andrea Bocelli - though he himself prefers Luciano Pavarotti - is certainly at the beginning of a brilliant international career.

In a recording studio in downtown Mexico City, he debuts the classic E lucevan le stelle.

It's a famous aria from Puccini's Tosca which has been performed many times by his favourite tenor.

(He sings E lucevan le stelle.)

Listening to him one cannot doubt that very soon it will be he who i the idol of many young singers.

(He sings E lucevan le stelle.)

- When he performs live, he almost always receives a standing ovation.

The audience gives itself over to him, and you also see that in him.

(He sings E lucevan le stelle.)

- My dream is to continue to develop myself as an opera singer so that I can play roles in opera productions that I really like.

Like the role of Enzo Grimaldo, in La Gioconda opera.

I have achieved things, I don't deny it, but not as much as I would like.

(♪♪♪) - (dubbed): OK, let's go!

(not dubbed): ♪♪ OK, yeah, OK, yeah ♪ ♪ Yo, welcome, hello, everybody, hey ♪ ♪ Hello, everybody... ♪♪ - At his family home in the suburbs of Paris, Vincent has set up a studio where, three times a week, he performs a totally improvised two-hour broadcast.

The multi-instrumentalist enthusiastically greets his fans, large numbers of whom tune in regularly.

- (dubbed): Well, hello everybody, welcome!

We just went live on Twitch.

As usual, I'm very, very happy to see you again.

(♪♪♪) (not dubbed): ♪♪ I said please ♪ ♪ Idon't want you to let me down ♪♪ - Switching from the compute to the keyboard to percussions, he skillfully strings together melodies, creating loops and beats that he embellishes and develops.

- (dubbed): Me, I make open pop music.

The idea is to mix together styles and musical genres.

No clear borders, if you like, between each style, so everything is possible.

You can mix it all together to create new soundscapes.

For those who don't know this style of "live" - me, I've got my piano, and this is fundamentally the centerpiece of all... all my material.

This, too, is my second centerpiece without which I couldn't do live.

(beat boxing) it's my workstation which permits me to sample and re-use anything I do.

It allows me to wrap up the beat boxing fairly quickly... (fast beat boxing) ... so I can use it later.

Moving on, I have my little light console which is just back there, which allows me to adjust the ambience of the live.

I have some fun with it.

(EDM) (♪♪♪) - Vincent was playing on the public piano at the St-Lazare station in Paris when he was discovered by the team behind The Voice.

A chance encounter that changed his life.

- On Tik Tok, I have 356,000 followers.

On Instagram, I've got fewer, more like 26,000.

My Voice appearance, it was seen 156 million times.

That's a lot.

It was really educational.

A lot of really positive things came out of it.

Honestly, some negative things came from it too, but it was interesting.

Now, that's not my world because it's TV.

And me, I make music.

(♪♪♪) My passion, my whole life is about making music.

The idea is to make music all the time and to share it with as many people as possible.

I feel like I have things I want to prove to myself, you might say.

I want recognition from the public for what I do.

Either to pull them out of their daily life, or to enter their daily life, but to make an impact on their life.

(EDM) I think that I'm a person who loves to try and define things, by which I mean, to surprise people.

I'll make you cry, and then bang!

I'll make you dance.

For me, music is always with me in different ways, where I can connect with and explore emotions that I have trouble expressing otherwise.

Broadly speaking, a kind of self-therapy, get it?

(chuckling) (♪♪♪)