Before the 2012-13 season is over, this phenomenon of SINGER-CONDUCTOR-ADMINISTRATOR rolled into one will have sung more than 140 roles in more than 3600 career performances, more than any other tenor in the history of music.
His repertoire which literally spans across all genres is as diverse as the letters in the alphabet-works by composers from Alfano to Wagner and everyone in between: Bellini, Rossini, Berlioz, Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Puccini, Beethoven, Mascagni, Cilea, Ginastera, Bizet, Charpentier, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, Rameau, Gounod… and many more.
His more than 100 recordings of complete operas, arias and duets, Lieder, Latin and crossover songs have won him 12 Grammy awards. He has been seen on stage and on screen by billions in more than 100 countries.
He has opened the Metropolitan Opera season 21 times-surpassing the great Caruso’s record of 17 seasons, and created new roles in landmark productions such as The First Emperor (2006) and The Enchanted Island (2012); worldwide he has conducted more than 450 opera performances and concerts with the world’s great orchestras.
A distinguished administrator-of Washington National Opera until 2011 and Los Angeles Opera to date-he has elevated these opera companies to world class status and has cultivated a robust audience for the art form.
No one fits the bill more and certainly no one has earned the title of LIVING LEGEND more than this titan of a man who in his early 70s continues to dazzle music lovers with his now more darkly burnished voice and his inimitable artistry, and with the same enthusiasm and gusto of the 1960′s up-and-coming 20-something Spanish tenor who took the world by storm almost half a century ago.
FanFaire attended LA OPERA’s celebration of the MAN AND THE LEGEND who opens the company’s 2012 season with a trio of milestones:
- the debut on September 15 of his 140th role in Verdi’s little known opera The Two Foscari
- the release of a new Sony Classical CD of pop songs and the DVD of Daniel Catan’s Il Postino in which he sang the role of the prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda
- and the 45th anniversary of his Los Angeles debut
WATCH A VIDEO: LA OPERA CELEBRATES PLACIDO DOMINGO [Sept 15, 2024]
Photos and video: courtesy LA Opera
