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Plácido Domingo. (credit: Beatriz Schiller — Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
Plácido Domingo. (credit: Beatriz Schiller — Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
For more information on Plácido Domingo, visit Britannica.com.
Plácido Domingo
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Plácido Domingo |
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| Music Encyclopedia: Plácido Domingo |
(b Madrid, 21 Jan 1941). Spanish tenor. He was taken to Mexico in 1950 and sang baritone roles in zarzuelas from 1957. His first major tenor role was Donizetti's Arturo (1961, Dallas). After four years with the Israel National Opera he sang Pinkerton at the New York City Opera (1965). Engagements with the Metand at many European houses confirmed his position as the leading lyric-dramatic tenor of his time. In roles as diverse as Cavaradossi, Othello and Lohengrin he has performed with sensitive phrasing and dramatic conviction, his vocal gifts allied to a warm, outgoing stage personality. Since 1973 he has also conducted opera.
| Biography: Placido Domingo |
Intelligence and dramatic conviction reinforced the vocal gifts of Spanish-born lyric-dramatic tenor Placido Domingo (born 1941). In addition to maintaining a large opera repertoire, he later turned to conducting; he was also an accomplished pianist.
Placido Domingo was born in the Barrio de Salamanca section of Madrid on January 21, 1941. His mother's family was Basque, and his father's half Catalan and half Aragonese. His parents, both active in music, were undoubtedly responsible for nurturing Domingo's musical abilities. His father had played the violin in opera and zarzuela orchestras and had sung baritone roles in zarzuelas. (Zarzuela is the Spanish equivalent of the Viennese operetta - a popular theatrical genre that mixes musical numbers with spoken dialogue. Its customary nationalistic plot may be serious or comic and usually involves scenes from everyday life.) What seems to have been a promising career, including a few recordings, was cut short when he damaged his voice by singing with a cold.
Domingo's mother was a professional singer who had made her debut at the Teatro Liceo in Barcelona, Spain's most important opera house. Her interest in zarzuela led to a performance in Federico Morena Torroba's Sor Navarra, where she had met her future husband. In 1946 Moreno Torroba formed a zarzuela company that included Domingo's parents and that eventually travelled to Mexico. Attracted to the country, Domingo's parents stayed and established their own company in Mexico City.
Domingo recalled that he was often pressed into service when the company needed a child. He began studying the piano shortly after the family moved to Mexico City, first privately and later at the National Conservatory. His interest in conducting also stemmed from these early years. At the impulsive age of 16 he met and married a fellow piano student, whom he does not name in his autobiography. A son was born within the year, and shortly thereafter the couple separated.
In Mexico and Israel
Domingo's first professional engagement was as accompanist to his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatan, in 1957. Immediately following this he joined his parents' zarzuela company, singing baritone roles and working with other singers as accompanist. His early career also included productions of My Fair Lady, in which he sang the role of the drunkard and was assistant conductor and assistant coach. The group gave 185 performances without interruption. Following this he served similarly in a production of Lehar's The Merry Widow as either Camille or Danilo.
Domingo auditioned for the National Opera (Mexico) in 1959 with several baritone arias, but was then asked to sight-read something in the tenor range. On the strength of the latter he received a contract as a tenor comprimario (singer of secondary roles) and as a coach for other singers. His first role was as Borsa in Verdi's Rigoletto. Other musical activities of the period included playing piano for a ballet company - no doubt to supplement his income - and running a program on Mexico's newly founded cultural television. This consisted of excerpts from zarzuelas, operettas, operas, and musical comedies, all to Domingo's piano accompaniment. A little later he played small parts on another program dedicated to the theater. Among the plays performed were those of Garcia Lorca, Pirandello, and Chekhov.
The number of his opera appearances, mostly in Monterrey (Mexico) and Mexico City, increased steadily from 1960 to 1961, and in November 1961 he made his American debut as Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor with the Dallas Civic Orchestra, Joan Sutherland appearing in the title role. One year later, in Fort Worth, he sang Edgardo in the same opera, with Lily Pons singing the last Lucia of her career. Also in 1962 he married the former Marta Ornelas, whom he had met at the conservatory and who eventually sacrificed a promising career for his. She was voted the best Mexican singer of the year 1962.
Before their marriage they, along with baritone Franco Iglesias, formed a chamber opera company that toured Mexico, performing Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna, Menotti's The Telephone, and various duets and trios, with Domingo accompanying at the piano. At the very end of 1962 the threesome signed a six month contract with the Hebrew National Opera in Tel Aviv, which proved such good experience that they extended their stay to two and one half years. Multi-lingual realizations of operas were common for the international cast gathered there. A performance of La Traviata, for instance, included a baritone singing in Hungarian, a soprano in German, a tenor in Italian, and the chorus in Hebrew. Domingo credits this cosmopolitan group for improving his abilities in several languages.
Move to New York City
After leaving Tel Aviv in June 1965, Domingo auditioned successfully for the New York City Opera. His New York debut was scheduled for October 21, 1965, as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen, but occurred on the 17th when he was asked to fill in for an ailing tenor in Puccini's Madame Butterfly. In February of the following year he sang the title role in the North American premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Don Rodrigo, an event that also marked the opening of the City Opera's new home at Lincoln Center. Don Rodrigo remained the only modernist work in Domingo's repertoire. Although he had sung in open air performances by the Metropolitan Opera of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in 1966, his official Met debut came on September 25, 1968, when he substituted for an indisposed Franco Corelli in Cilèa's Adrianna Lecouveur a week before his scheduled appearance.
Other important debuts were as follows: January 1965 at the Teatro Liceo, Barcelona, in three short operas by little-known Mexican composers; December 1969 in the title role of Verdi's Ernani; and December 1971 as Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca, his most frequently performed role. In 1980 Federico Moreno Torroba completed an opera, El Poeta, for Domingo, who sang the world premiere in June of that year. Both Domingo and the critics agreed that, although the straightforward, tonal score contained many attractive passages, the libretto was too weak to support it.
Although Domingo's repertoire concentrated mainly on the 19th century Italian and French masters, his range was considerably wider. In addition to his zarzuela roots and brief excursion into the modernism of Don Rodrigo, he went back as far as Rameau (Hippolyte) and Mozart (Don Giovanni) and touched on Wagner (Lohengrin, Hans Sachs). He also released two popular albums, one with American popular singer John Denver, "Perhaps Love" and later "My Life for a Song." Domingo appeared in commercial film productions of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and Verdi's La Traviata (1983), all directed by Franco Zeffirelli, and Bizet's Carmen (1984), directed by Francesco Rosi.
Domingo actively pursued conducting opportunities during much of his career. In 1972 "Domingo Conducts Milnes! Milnes Conducts Domingo!" with the New Philharmonia Orchestra of London was released. Later he conducted a New York City Opera production of La Traviata during the 1973-1974 season and a Covent Garden production of Die Fledermaus at the end of 1983.
Achieved Universal Acclaim
Domingo's willingness to explore new musical territories led to Perhaps Love, his album of duets with the late singer John Denver in 1981. Although critics were not especially pleased, the album achieved gold status in record sales. During the nineties, Domingo achieved even greater mainstream commercial success on his Three Tenors collaborations with Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The trio first performed together in celebration of the 1990 World Cup Championship in Rome. In 1994 their Dodger Stadium concert in Los Angeles, which was viewed on television by 1.3 billion people and sold more than 10 million CDs and videos, was billed as the most-seen and most-heard serious music event of all time. New York magazine called Domingo a "phenomenon, perhaps the most compulsive overachiever the world of opera has ever known." The singer's immense poularity allowed him to raise millions of dollars through special benefit concerts in order to help the victims of the 1985 Mexican earthquake disaster, in which he personally lost four relatives. At the same time his Three Tenors collaborations introduced millions of new fans to the music of opera. In 1996 Domingo became the artistic director of the Washington Opera while simultaneously launching The Three Tenors World Tour which visited four continents and continued through 1997.
Further Reading
Of the many articles written on Domingo, those in Opera News are perhaps the most consistently revealing. An interview, "What Makes Placido Run?" appeared in the March 27, 1982, issue. Domingo's autobiography, My First Forty Years, was published in 1983. One of the better books of its kind, it is well written and insightful and probably no more self-congratulatory than his accomplishment deserves.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Placido Domingo |
Domingo, Placido (plă'cēdō dōmē'gō), 1941-, Spanish operatic tenor, b. Madrid, Spain. He is best known for his warm voice and his interpretation of lyric roles in Italian opera, although he has also sung in Wagnerian operas. Among his most famous roles are Don José in Carmen, Canio in Pagliacci, and Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly. Domingo became the artistic director of the Washington Opera in 1996 and of the Los Angeles Opera in 2000.
| Quotes By: Placido Domingo |
Quotes:
"The high note is not the only thing."
| Artist: Plácido Domingo |
- Period: Contemporary (1950- )
- Country: Spain
- Born: January 21, 1941 in Madrid, Spain
Biography
Plácido Domingo's parents were both singers of zarzuela, Spain's distinctive national form of musical theater. They founded their own zarzuela troupe in Mexico, where Plácido appeared with them in child roles. He studied voice with Carlo Morelli at Mexico's National Conservatory (1955-1957), and took the small role of Borsa in Verdi's Rigoletto with the National Opera in Mexico City in 1959. His first appearance in a leading tenor role was as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1961, and he made his U.S. debut the same year as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Dallas Civic Opera.Domingo's New York debut was as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the New York City Opera, October 17, 1965. After a 1966 stadium performance, his debut on the Metropolitan Opera stage occurred on September 28, 1968, as Maurice de Saxe in Adriana Lecouvreur. His first appearances at major houses such as Milan's La Scala (1968), the Vienna State Opera (1967), and London's Covent Garden (1971) established him as one of the greatest lyric tenors of his time, and, remarkably, as a formidable dramatic tenor besides. He has a bright, forceful voice, excellent stage presence, and superb musicianship, studying his parts from full orchestral score when possible. Commanding one of the largest active repertories among his contemporaries, he is often called upon as an emergency substitute. In one memorable case he flew from Europe to San Francisco, studying his part while in the air. He was met by a limousine and changed into his costume while traveling to the opera house by police escort.
Domingo is noted for his musical interests beyond singing. He began conducting, making his debut with La Traviata at the New York City Opera in 1973. He conducted La Bohème at the Met, and commissioned the opera Goya, on the life of the great Spanish painter, from Gian-Carlo Menotti, appearing as the painter in the work's premiere in Washington, D.C. If he had taken up conducting as a hedge against vocal decline, the measure proved unnecessary. Little diminishment is evident in his singing; he has used the darkening of his voice to his advantage, moving further into the dramatic tenor repertoire and even taking on Wagnerian roles such as Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Tristan. He has been especially identified with Verdi's Otello, and appeared in the work's official 100th anniversary performance at La Scala in 1987.
For much of his career he was put forward as a rival with his near-contemporaries, the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti and fellow Spaniard José Carreras. When Carreras was hospitalized for leukemia in the 1980s, Pavarotti and Domingo both visited him, and the three brought to an end whatever rivalry might actually have existed. After Carreras' recovery, the three operatic stars formed an unprecedented partnership founded on their common love of soccer. They united every four years at the World Cup tournament for a monster gala concert called "The Three Tenors." The compact discs and video releases of these events then went on to become immense best sellers.
In later years Domingo appeared in concerts for Mexican earthquake relief and AIDS benefits, and has sung and conducted increasingly in zarzuela presentations, on stage and in recordings. In 1993, he founded the "Operalia" competition for young singers. He also turned to administration, becoming artistic director for the Washington Opera (1996) and the Los Angeles Opera (2000). ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
Discography
Show More Albums
| Actor: Plácido Domingo |
- Born: Jan 21, 1941 in Madrid, Spain
- Occupation: Actor
- Active: '80s-2000s
- Major Genres: Music, Theater
- Career Highlights: La Traviata, Carmen, Otello
- First Major Screen Credit: Il Trovatore (1978)
Biography
Unlike other opera singers-turned-film performers, such as Ezio Pinza, Salvatore Baccaloni, and Luciano Pavarotti, Spanish-born internationally renown opera star Plácido Domingo has generally only made film appearances that are tied to his stage performances. His film credits include movie versions of Verdi's La Traviata (1982) and Otello (1987), and Bizet's Carmen (1984), all sumptuously photographed and directed, avoiding the staginess of most filmed operas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide| Filmography: Plácido Domingo |
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| Wikipedia: Plácido Domingo |
José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941),[1] better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role,[2] giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor.[3][4] In addition to his singing roles, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, as well as serving as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C. and the Los Angeles Opera in California. His contracts in both Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. have been extended through the 2010–2011 season.
Contents |
Biography and career
Early years
Plácido Domingo was born near the Barrio de Salamanca section of Madrid, Spain,[5] and moved to Mexico with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. He studied piano at first privately and later at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City.
In 1957, Domingo made his first professional appearance, performing with his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatán. He made his opera debut performing in Manuel Fernández Caballero's zarzuela, Gigantes y cabezudos, singing a baritone role. At that time, he was working with his parents' zarzuela company, taking baritone roles and as an accompanist for other singers. Among his first performances was a minor role in the first Mexican production of My Fair Lady where he was also the assistant conductor and assistant coach. The company gave 185 performances, which included a production of Lehár's The Merry Widow in which he performed alternately as either Camille or Danilo.
In 1959, Domingo auditioned for the Mexico National Opera as a baritone but was then asked to sight-read some arias and lines in the tenor range. Finally he was accepted in the National Opera as a tenor comprimario and as a tutor for other singers. He provided backup vocals for Los Black Jeans in 1958, a rock-and-roll band led by César Costa. He studied piano and conducting, but made his stage debut acting in a minor role in 1959 (12 May) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in Marina. It was followed by Borsa in Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil and Norman Treigle also in the cast), Padre Confessor (Dialogues of the Carmelites) and others.
He played piano for a ballet company to supplement his income as well as playing piano for a program on Mexico's newly-founded cultural television station. The program consisted of excerpts from zarzuelas, operettas, operas, and musical comedies. He acted in a few small parts while at the theater in plays by Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, and Anton Chekhov.
1960s–1980s
In 1961, he made his operatic debut in a leading role as Alfredo in La Traviata at Monterrey and later in the same year, his debut in the United States with the Dallas Civic Opera, where he played the role of Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland in the title role.
In 1962, he returned to Texas to play the role of Edgardo in the same opera with Lily Pons at the Fort Worth Opera.[6] At the end of 1962, he signed a six month contract with the Israel National Opera in Tel Aviv but later extended the contract and stayed for two and a half years, singing 280 performances of 12 different roles.
In June 1965, after finishing his contract with Israel National Opera, Domingo went for an audition at the New York City Opera and scheduled to make his New York debut as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen but his debut came earlier when he was asked to fill in for an ailing tenor at the last minute in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. On 17 June 1965, Domingo made his New York debut as B. F. Pinkerton at the New York City Opera. In February 1966, he sang the title role in the U.S. premiere of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. The performance also marked the opening of the City Opera's new home at Lincoln Center.
His official debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York occurred on 28 September 1968 when he substituted for Franco Corelli, in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur singing with Renata Tebaldi. Before Adriana Lecouvreur, he had sung in performances by the Metropolitan Opera at Lewisohn Stadium of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in 1966. Since then, he has opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera 21 times,[7] surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968, at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969, at the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1970, and at Covent Garden in 1971, and has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide. In 1971, he sang Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, and continued to sing that role for many years, singing it, in fact, more than any other tenor.[8]
Throughout the years, Domingo has also turned his hand to conducting opera (as early as La traviata on 7 October 1973, at New York City Opera) as well as, occasionally, symphonic orchestras. In 1981 Domingo gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American country/folk music singer John Denver. In 1987, he and Denver joined Julie Andrews for an Emmy Award winning holiday television special, The Sound of Christmas, filmed in Salzburg, Austria.
On 19 September 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated the whole Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew's young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he did benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.
1990s – present
Throughout the1990s and 2000s until today, Domingo continued performing, singing many of the same roles but adding new roles as well, among them the title roles in Wagner's Parsifal and Mozart's Idomeneo, Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia as Figaro, Wagner's Die Walküre as Siegmund, Lehár's The Merry Widow as Danilo and Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano. From the middle 1990s to early in 2008 alone, he added 38 new roles to his repertoire, covering opera in six different languages (English, Italian, French, German, Russian and Spanish). The latest was the Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, Tamerlano.
Also see: Domingo's complete repertoire.
Giving him even greater international recognition outside of the world of opera, he participated in The Three Tenors concert at the opening of the 1990 World Cup in Rome with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals (1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, along with rising stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. On 24 August 2008, Domingo performed a duet with Song Zuying, singing Ài de Huǒyàn (The Flame of Love) at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing.[9][10][11]
In what has been called his 'final career move', Plácido Domingo announced on 25 January 2007 that in 2009 he would take on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, the Doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra, in the opera of the same name. The debut performance was at Berlin State Opera on October 24, followed by other 29 performances during 2009/2010 at major opera houses around the world. [12] He would, however, continue to sing tenor roles beforehand and afterwards.
On 16–17 April 2008 he sang during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park and at the Italian embassy in Washington D.C. Since 1990 Plácido Domingo has received many awards and honors for his achievement in the field of music and in recognition of his many benefit concerts and contributions to various charities.
On 15 March 2009, The Metropolitan Opera paid tribute to Domingo's 40th anniversary with the company with an on-stage gala dinner at the Met's 125th anniversary, commemorating his debut in Adriana Lecouvreur as Maurizio opposite Renata Tebaldi on 28 September 1968[13]
On 29 August 2009 he sang Panis Angelicus at the funeral mass of Senator Ted Kennedy in the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts.[14]
Family
He was born to Plácido Francisco Domingo Ferrer (8 March 1907 – 22 November 1987) [15] and Pepita Embil Echaníz (28 February 1918 – 28 September 1994),[16] two Spanish zarzuela stars who nurtured his early musical abilities. Domingo's father was half Catalan and half Aragonese while his mother was a Basque. His father was a violinist performing for opera and zarzuela orchestra. He was a baritone and actively taking roles in zarzuela. However his promising career as a baritone ended after he damaged his voice by singing with a cold. Domingo's mother was an established singer who made her zarzuela debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She met her husband at age 21 while performing in Federico Moreno Torroba's Sor Navarra. In 1946 Moreno Torroba and Domingo's parents formed a zarzuela company and travelled frequently to Mexico. His parents later stayed permanently in Mexico and established their own zarzuela troupe, the Domingo-Embil Company.[17] In addition to their son, they also have a daughter, Maria José Domingo de Fernandez .
On 29 August 1957 at age 16, Plácido Domingo married a fellow piano student, Ana María Guerra Cué (1938–1985) and his first son, José Plácido Domingo Guerra (Pepe) was born on 16 June 1958.[18] However, the marriage didn't last long, the couple separated shortly thereafter. In 1 August 1962, Plácido Domingo married Marta Ornelas, born 1935, a lyric soprano from Veracruz, Mexico, whom he met during his conservatory days.[19] In the same year, Marta had been voted "Mexican Singer of the Year" but she gave up her promising career to devote her time to her family. They have two sons, Plácido Francisco (Plácido Jr.) born on 21 October 1965 and Alvaro Maurizio born on 11 October 1968.[20] After a period of time living in Israel, he and his family resided in Teaneck, New Jersey.[21][22][23] During vacations, he usually spends his time with family in their vacation home in Acapulco, Mexico.[24][25]
Recordings
See also: Plácido Domingo discography
He has made well over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once. Among these recordings is a boxed set of every tenor aria Verdi ever wrote, including several rarely-performed versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote for specific performances.
In August 2005, EMI Classics released a new studio recording of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in which Domingo sings the title role of Tristan. A review of this recording, headlined "Vocal perfections", that appeared in the 8 August 2005 issue of The Economist begins with the word "Monumental" and ends with the words, "a musical lyricism and a sexual passion that make the cost and the effort entirely worthwhile". It characterized his July 2005 performance of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden as "unforgettable" and "luminous". The review also remarks that Domingo is still taking on roles that he has not previously performed.
New recordings that have been released in the first half of 2006 include studio recordings of Puccini's Edgar, Isaac Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez, as well as a selection of Italian and Neapolitan songs, titled Italia ti amo (all three with Deutsche Grammophon). Domingo appeared as the star act in the New Orleans Opera Association's A Night For New Orleans with Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral, in March 2006. The concert was to raise funds for the rebuilding of the city.
In December 2008, Deutsche Grammophon released Domingo’s latest CD, Amore Infinito in which the album songs were inspired based on poems of Pope John Paul II. In the album, Domingo performing duet with Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Katherine Jenkins, Vanessa L. Williams, and with his son, Plácido Domingo Jr.[26]
Appearances on film and television
- See Domingo's opera recording in DVD/VHS format and audio CD format.
Domingo has appeared in numerous opera films, among them are Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's Madama Butterfly, Francesco Rosi's Carmen (Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), Gianfranco de Bosio's Tosca with Raina Kabaivanska, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's Tosca with Catherine Malfitano (Emmy Award),[27] Franco Zeffirelli's Otello with Katia Ricciarelli, Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci, and La traviata (with Teresa Stratas, which received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording).
He has also appeared on television in the 1978 La Scala production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut which marked the Scala debut of Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, as well in zarzuela evenings, and Live at the Met telecasts and broadcasts. In 2007, Domingo had a cameo in "Homer of Seville", an episode of The Simpsons which revolves around Homer Simpson becoming an opera singer. In his cameo, Domingo sang briefly. Domingo appeared on The Cosby Show Season 5 as Alberto Santiago, a colleague of Dr Cliff Huxtable. He also sang as the operatic moon in the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!.
In 1989, the international television series, 'Return Journey' featured Domingo returning to his home city of Madrid refecting life there whilst recording an album of Zarzuela arias for EMI. The film was directed by Ken MacGregor.
He is the executive producer of the critically acclaimed 1998 Mexican film, The Other Conquest, produced by his son Alvaro, in which Domingo also performs the original aria "Mater Aeterna", composed by Samuel Zyman.
Christmas in Vienna
Further information: Christmas in Vienna, Christmas in Vienna II, Christmas in Vienna III, and Christmas in Vienna VI
In 1990, the idea for a Christmas-themed concert, involving the collaboration of Domingo, fellow operatic tenor and friend José Carreras, and pop music legend Diana Ross was first brought up. Vienna was chosen in 1992 to host the event due to its reputation as a capital of music and the particular charm of Austria during Christmas time. The Wiener Symphoniker under the direction of maestro Vjekoslav Šutej provided the orchestral music, and the Gumpoldskirchen Children's Choir provided choral vocals. On 23 December 1992 the first in what would turn out to be a series of Christmas in Vienna concerts was seen worldwide by several hundred million people. Plácido Domingo returned to Vienna for many more Christmas in Vienna concerts, performing with stars and friends of both pop and classical music, including Dionne Warwick, Charles Aznavour, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Michael Bolton, Sarah Brightman, Riccardo Cocciante, Patricia Kaas, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett and others.
Complete repertoire
Main article: Repertoire of Plácido Domingo
Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 128 opera roles and as many as 131 roles (overall) in Italian, French, German, English, Spanish and Russian.[28] His main repertoire however is Italian (Otello, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Don Carlo, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West, Radames in Aida), French (Faust, Werther, Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson et Dalila), and German (Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre). He continues to add more operas to his repertoire, the latest was Verdi's Simon Boccanegra as "Simon Boccanegra" on 24 October 2009 at Berlin State Opera.
Awards and honors
Plácido Domingo won his first Grammy Award in 1971 and went on to win eight more, as well as three Latin Grammy awards. A Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera and the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, his other major awards include Austria's Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst, France's Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur, Mexico's Orden del Águila Azteca, Spain's Premio Príncipe de Asturias, and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Writings
| Date | Title | Publisher | ISBN | Pages | Author(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 1983 |
My First Forty Years | Alfred A. Knopf | ISBN 0394523296 | 256 | Plácido Domingo |
| Dec 1994 |
Opera 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Opera |
Hyperion | ISBN 0786880252 | 494 | Fred Plotkin, Plácido Domingo (intro) |
| July 1997 |
Christmas With Plácido Domingo: Trumpets Sound And Angels Sing |
Alfred Publishing Company | ISBN 0895243210 | 80 | Plácido Domingo, Milton Okun (editor) |
| July 1997 |
Bajo el cielo español (Under the Spanish Sky) |
Warner Brothers Publications | ISBN 0769200249 | 84 | Plácido Domingo (Recorder), Carol Cuellar (Compiler) |
| March 1999 |
Plácido Domingo — Por Amor | Hal Leonard Corporation | ISBN 0711972583 | 104 | Plácido Domingo |
| March 2003 |
Plácido Domingo (Great Voices Series): My Operatic Roles |
Baskerville Publishers, Incorporated | ISBN 1880909618 | 319 | Helena Matheopoulos, Plácido Domingo |
| March 2007 |
Leoncavallo: Life and Works | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc | ISBN 0810858738 ISBN 0810858800 |
349 351 |
Konrad Claude Dryden, Plácido Domingo (intro) |
| Dec 2007 |
So When Does the Fat Lady Sing? | Hal Leonard Corporation | ISBN 1574671626 | 173 | Michael Walsh, Plácido Domingo (intro) |
Humanitarian works and initiatives
- On 4 March 2006, Domingo sang at the Gala Benefit Concert, "A Night For New Orleans" at the New Orleans Arena to help rebuilding the city after it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. At the gala, he made a statement: "If music be the food of love", then "MUSIC IS THE VOICE OF HOPE!" [31][32]. On 23 March 2008, the New Orleans City Council named the city theatre's stage in the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in Louis Armstrong Park, the "Plácido Domingo stage" as the honour for his contribution at the Gala Benefits Concert. The Gala collected $700,000 for the city recovery fund[33].
- In 1986, he performed at benefit concerts to raise funds for the victims of 1985 Mexico City earthquake and released an album of one of the events. On 21 August 2007, as recognition to his support to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims as well as his artistic works, a statue in his honor, made in Mexico City from keys donated by the people, was unveiled. The statue is the work of Alejandra Zúñiga, is two meters tall, weighs about 300 kg (660 lbs) and is part of the "Grandes valores" (Great values) program.[34][35].
- Domingo supports the Hear the World initiative as an ambassador to raise awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.[36]
- In 1993 he founded Operalia, The World Opera Competition, an international opera competition for talented young singers. The winners get the opportunities of being employed in opera ensembles around the world.[37] Domingo has been instrumental in giving many young artists encouragement, (and special attention) as in 2001, when he invited New York tenor, Daniel Rodriguez to attend the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists program to further develop his operatic skills.
- On 21 December 2003, Domingo made a performance in Cancún to benefit the Ciudad de la Alegria Foundation, the foundation that provides assistance and lodging to people in need, including low-income individuals, orphans, expectant mothers, immigrants, rehabilitated legal offenders, and the terminally ill.[38]
- On 27 June 2007, Domingo and Katherine Jenkins performed in a charity concert in Athens to raise funds to aid the conflict in Darfur. The concert was organized by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.[39]
- In 2 October 2007, Domingo joins several other preeminent figures in entertainment, government, the environment and more, as the one of receivers of the BMW Hydrogen 7, designed in the mission to build support of hydrogen as a viable substitute to fossil fuels.[40]
- On 17 January 2009 he performed with the New Orleans Opera directed by Robert Lyall in a gala reopening of New Orleans' Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. The master of ceremonies was New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson.[41]
See also
- List of recordings by Plácido Domingo
- The Three Tenors
- Christmas in Vienna I, II, III, and VI
- Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
- Category:Plácido Domingo albums
References
- ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Thomson Gale, 2006, The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 1994, Warrack, J. and West, E. The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, OUP, 1992 all give the year of birth as 1941.
- ^ 128 opera roles.Retrieved 30 December 2008
- ^ More repertoire than any tenor from SonyClassical
- ^ More repertoire than any tenor from dc-opera.org
- ^ Birthplace per biography
- ^ American Masters
- ^ Metropolitan Opera International Radio Broadcast Information Center — 2007–08 Broadcasts
- ^ PBS, American Masters: Plácido Domingo
- ^ Curtain closes on unforgettable Beijing Games
- ^ Domingo and Chinese singer Song perform together at Beijing Olympics closing
- ^ Beijing 2008: Singers Domingo and Song perform
- ^ Domingo's performance calendar
- ^ Domingo's 40th Anniversary with The MET
- ^ James Rowley and Alison Fitzgerald, "Nation’s Political Elite Gathers for Kennedy Farewell", Bloomberg News, 29 August 2009. Accessed 29 August 2009.
- ^ Placido Domingo Ferrer, Baritone, 80 — New York Times
- ^ Pepita Embil Domingo; Soprano and Tenor's Mother, 76 — New York Times
- ^ Domingo biography at bookrags.com
- ^ His son José from first marriage
- ^ Date of marriage
- ^ His two sons with Marta Ornelas
- ^ Placido Domingo. 2003. ISBN 1880909618. http://books.google.com/books?id=7KX7tCrpfD8C&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=Pl%C3%A1cido+Domingo+New+Jersey+teaneck&source=web&ots=GXQiSteXh5&sig=ceID13PbQe1LcbtR0AiQhRo2OBE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result. "... the New Jersey suburb of Teaneck"
- ^ "Domingo: Iron man of opera", The Cincinnati Post, 23 September 1998. Accessed 7 August 2007. "Domingo vividly recalls his Met debut — four days earlier than planned. His parents were visiting him and his wife, Marta, in Teaneck, N.J., and they'd just sat down to dinner when the phone rang and Rudolf Bing's voice inquired, 'How are you feeling, Placido?'"
- ^ Dobnik, Verena via Associated Press. "The Three Tenors return in drag for Domingo", Newsday, 28 September 2008. Accessed 29 September 2008. "Of Domingo's 126 career roles, he sang 45 at the Met since his debut on 28 September 1968. On that night, he drove himself from home in Teaneck, N.J., warming up in the car at the top of his lungs while a nearby motorist laughed. I asked him, 'Where are you going?', and he said, 'the Met.' And I said, 'Don't laugh, you are going to be hearing me.'"
- ^ Home in Acapulco from his biography by Helena Matheopoulos
- ^ Vacation home in Acapulco from Aarp.org
- ^ http://www.modul100v2.de/apfelbiss/196/files/20081211211144AmoreInfinitoPromotion.pdf Amore Infinito details
- ^ Emmy award 1993
- ^ Repertoire list
- ^ USA Today
- ^ Renaissanceresearch.blogspot.com
- ^ "If music be the food of love", is "MUSIC IS THE VOICE OF HOPE!"
- ^ A Night For New Orleans
- ^ New Orleans theatre named for opera singer Placido Domingo
- ^ Statue report by Elpais.com
- ^ Statue unveiled from Plácido Domingo website
- ^ Hear the world website
- ^ Domingo Operalia website
- ^ Performance in Cancún to benefit the Ciudad de la Alegria Foundation
- ^ Charity concert in Athens to raise funds to aid the conflict in Darfur
- ^ Received BMW Hydrogen 7
- ^ Theodore P. Mahne, "Star Emcee Patricia Clarkson Shares in the Excitement over Tonight's Opera Gala" in Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 2009 January 17, pp. C1, C3.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Plácido Domingo |
- Official website
- Plácido Domingo International Operalia Opera Singer Contest
- World Tour Homepage
- Discography on EMI Classics website
- Discography on DG Classics website
- Opera is expensive, singers are cheap, Plácido Domingo about too small Operas, Casting-Singers as Paul Potts and the humility before a great career (Interview by Nahuel Lopez in German, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 17 March 2009)
- Interview with Domingo from The Guardian, 10 July 2005
- Biography at the Kennedy Center
- Plácido Domingo's video of concerts and Opera from YouTube.com
- Guardian article detailing his switch to baritone.
- History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
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Mentioned in
- Pavarotti, Luciano (Fine Arts)
- Placido Domingo: Live from Miami (1991 Music Film)
- Samson et Dalila (1981 Theater Film)
- Il Tabarro (Theater Film)
- Luisa Miller (Film)
- Christmas in Vienna (1993 Film)
- Francesca Da Rimini (Film)
- Premiere Collection 1 (1993 Album by Various Artists)
- Home for the Holidays: Christmas in the City (2000 Album by Various Artists)
- The Greatest Songs of Christmas: The First Noel (2005 Album by Various Artists)
- The Greatest Songs of Christmas: I'll Be Home for Christmas (2005 Album by Various Artists)
- Andrea Chenier (1985 Theater Film)
- Christmastime in Vienna (1999 Music Film)
- Giacomo Puccini: Turandot (1989 Music Film)
