Plácido Domingo
One of the world's most renowned tenors, Plácido Domingo -- along with his frequent collaborators Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras -- is largely responsible for the increasing mainstream popularity of opera among contemporary listeners. He became established quickly as one of the greatest lyric tenors of his time, and one who could also sing dramatic tenor roles with nearly equally fine results. Domingo's forays into Latin and pop music were also successful, earning him Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards as well as silver, gold, platinum, and multi-platinum-selling albums. As his voice deepened with age in the 2010s, he continued to perform as a baritone.
Born March 21, 1941, in Madrid, Spain, Domingo's parents were both singers in the zarzuela, Spain's distinctive national form of musical theater. His family relocated to Mexico in 1950; there he studied vocal technique, as well as piano and conducting, at the Mexico City Conservatory. His operatic debut was in the small role of Borsa in Verdi's Rigoletto with the National Opera in Mexico City in 1959. His first appearance in the leading tenor role was as Alfredo in Verdi's La Traviata in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1960. Subsequently, he spent close to three years with the Israel National Opera, singing 280 performances in a dozen different roles. His debut with the Metropolitan Opera Company was in a Lewisohn Stadium concert performance of Cavalleria Rusticana, as Turiddu, August 9, 1966. His Metropolitan Opera debut was on September 28, 1968, as Maurice de Saxe in Adriana Lecouvreur -- the first of well over 400 performances at the legendary venue.
In the years to follow, Domingo's stature grew on the strength of regular performances at the world's most famed opera houses, among them La Scala, the Vienna State Opera, London's Covent Garden, the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, the San Francisco Opera, Chicago's Lyric Opera, and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera (which he co-founded). His recordings included performances with sopranos such as Rosalind Plowright, Katria Ricciarelli, and Montserrat Caballe.
During the '80s, Domingo broadened his horizons. He added pop and Latin music to his repertoire, scoring a Top 20 hit with the 1981 John Denver duet "Perhaps Love" from the album of the same name, and winning a Best Latin Pop Performance Grammy in 1985 for Siempre en Mi Corazón (Always in My Heart), a collection of Ernesto Lecuona songs. He also appeared in several filmed operas, including Franco Zeffirelli's La Traviata in 1982, Franco Rossi's Carmen in 1984, and Zeffirelli's Otello in 1986.
However, Domingo's greatest popularity came as one of the Three Tenors, a trio featuring Pavarotti and Carreras, whose albums and live concert videos enjoyed mainstream success not enjoyed by operatic recordings in many decades. The Three Tenors' 1990 debut album became one of the best-selling classical albums of all time, and they continued to perform and record until 2003. In 1992, Domingo began the Christmas in Vienna series of concerts and albums, which featured vocalists such as Carreras, Diana Ross, Charles Aznavour, Tony Bennett, and many others.
During the '90s and 2000s, Domingo's behind-the-scenes work in opera and the arts increased. Having established a relationship with the Washington National Opera in the '80s, he became its Artistic Director in 1996, a position he held until 2011. Meanwhile, he became Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Opera in 2000, ultimately taking on the role of General Director in 2003. He also founded the international opera competition Operalia and became the president of Europa Nostra, a European cultural heritage federation.
Along with these responsibilities, Domingo continued to perform, though his roles were changing. He performed in more Wagnerian operas and Russian-language operas such as Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. He also added new roles in classic and modern operas including Arrigo in Verdi's La Battaglia di Legnano and Tan Dun's The First Emperor. Domingo earned particular acclaim for his performance as Tristan in the 2005 EMI Classics studio recording of Tristan und Isolde, which featured Operalia winner Nina Stemme in the other lead role. In 2009, Domingo switched to baritone parts, starting with Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and following it with roles in the composer's Rigoletto, I due Foscari, La Traviata, and Macbeth, among others. He also continued to record classical and pop albums. His 2011 collection of Verdi baritone arias won a Latin Grammy Award; other projects included 2012's Songs, which featured collaborations with Josh Groban and Susan Boyle, the 2015 holiday album My Christmas, and an appearance on Il Volo's Notte Magica: A Tribute to the Three Tenors in 2016. Another seasonal collection, Placido Domingo & Friends Celebrate Christmas in Vienna, arrived in 2017.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Verdi : La Traviata
Ileana Cotrubas, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Bayerisches Staatsorchester , Carlos Kleiber
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1977
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi : Aida
Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé, Riccardo Muti, New Philharmonia Orchestra
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1974
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lloyd Webber: Requiem
Plácido Domingo, Sarah Brightman, Lorin Maazel
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Three Tenors - Paris 1998
Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 30 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live in Tokyo 1988 (Kathleen Battle Edition, Vol. 6)
Kathleen Battle, Plácido Domingo, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1989
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Three Tenors - In Concert - Rome 1990
José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Orchestre du Mai Musical Florentin , Zubin Mehta
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Turandot
Katia Ricciarelli, Plácido Domingo, Barbara Hendricks, Ruggero Raimondi, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman
Dame Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Richard Bonynge
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi - La forza del destino
Riccardo Muti, Mirella Freni, Plácido Domingo
Full Operas - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ernani
Plácido Domingo, Riccardo Muti, Mirella Freni, Renato Bruson, Nicolaï Ghiaurov, Jolanda Michieli
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Plácido Domingo - The Opera Collection
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: La Fanciulla del West
Carol Neblett, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1978
Gramophone Record of the Year16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Tosca
Catherine Malfitano, Plácido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma Della RAI, Zubin Mehta
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 31 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Rigoletto - Highlights
Ileana Cotrubas, Hanna Schwarz, Plácido Domingo, Piero Cappuccilli, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 3 Aug 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Luna (Canciones, Romanzas Y Danzas)
José Maria Cano, Teresa Berganza, Plácido Domingo, Aïnhoa Arteta, Renée Fleming, London Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Universal Music Spain S.L. on 21 Dec 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives (Christus am Ölberge, Op. 85)
Placido Domingo, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 15 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Op. 9
Violeta Urmana, Plácido Domingo, Marcello Viotti, Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 18 Mar 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Faust
Plácido Domingo, Mirella Freni, Nicolaï Ghiaurov, Georges Prêtre, Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 19 Nov 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Otello
Opera - Released by C.R. Digital Contents on 1 Jan 1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Otello
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 1 Jan 1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concert for Planet Earth
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 8 Dec 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo