Placido Domingo
José Plácido Domingo Embil (Madrid, January 21, 1941) is a Spanish singer, conductor, producer and composer. Former general director of the Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles (California) Opera, with baritone and tenor registers, he was part of the trio The Three Tenors , together with the Spanish José Carreras and the Italian Luciano Pavarotti.
Among other distinctions, he holds the Order of the British Empire and the Grand Cross of Alfonso X the Wise.
Biography
Plácido Domingo was born on January 21, 1941 at number 34 Calle de Ibiza in Madrid. He is the son of two zarzuela singers, Plácido Domingo Ferrer from Zaragoza and Josefa Pepita Embil Etxaniz from Gipuzkoa. His sister was called María José, who died in 2015. His family knows him as El Granado , for singing the song "Granada" by the Mexican composer Agustín Lara from a very young age. In 1949, at the age of eight, on January 18, he moved with his family to Mexico City to work in musical theater and soon excelled in piano lessons. He studied at the National School of Arts and at the National Conservatory of Music, studying piano and conducting. At that time, along with his studies, he tried to be a professional footballer. It was in 1957 when he married the Mexican pianist Ana María Guerra Cué, with whom he had his first child, José Plácido Domingo Guerra, born on June 16, 1958. The marriage only lasted a few months and she, born in 1938, He died in 2006. In 1962 he would marry again, this time with the Veracruz soprano Marta Ornelas, whom he met while at the conservatory.
Professional beginnings
Domingo made his baritone debut on May 12, 1959, playing Pascual in the play Marina, at the Degollado theater in the city of Guadalajara, Mexico. He later played Borsa in Rigoletto and the Father Confessor in Dialogues of Carmelites , among others. That same year he made his debut again, this time as a tenor, playing Alfredo in La Traviata , at the María Teresa Montoya theater in the city of Monterrey. He then decided to continue performing zarzuela with his parents. But it was in 1962 that Plácido Domingo triumphed: that year he went to the Tel Aviv Opera, Israel's national opera, where he spent two and a half years and sang in 280 performances.
His second wife, Marta Ornelas, decided to end her career as a singer to dedicate herself to caring for their children: Plácido, Jr. (1965) and Álvaro (1968). Later he has dedicated himself to stage direction.
For the 1982 Spain Soccer World Cup, he recorded the Official Theme of said FIFA Cup. Likewise, he also contributed musical scenes at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games along with José Carreras, Alfredo Kraus, among others. On January 21, 2011, the day of his 70th birthday, he was honored with a gala performance at the Teatro Real in Madrid, which was attended, among other personalities, by Queen Sofía, who accompanied the tenor in the box real. That same month he had premiered the performance of Iphigenia en Táuride , by Gluck, at the Madrid Coliseum. On June 29, 2016, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, Real Madrid organized “Plácido en el alma”, a historic concert in his tribute at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The Spanish tenor was accompanied by leading artists such as Alejandro Sanz, Andrea Bocelli, José Mercé, David Bisbal, Sara Baras, Pablo Alborán, Alejandro Fernández, Fher (Maná), Juanes, Pablo López, India Martínez, Rozalén, Carlos Baute, Diego Torres, Il Volo, Dvicio, Los Secretos, Diana Navarro, Pablo Sainz Villegas, Ara Malikian, Arturo Sandoval, Café Quijano, Plácido Domingo Jr., the Antonio Gades Company, the Royal Theater Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir and Bertín Osborne, the latter also as master of ceremonies. More than 80,000 people were able to attend the stadium: tickets were sold out, the benefits of which went to the Madrid sports schools in Mexico.
International career
In 1966, he sang the title role in the American premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, to great acclaim. He became internationally known with his debut in Hamburg in 1967. He first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on September 28, 1968, in Adriana Lecouvreur , by Francesco Cilea, singing with Renata Tebaldi. Since then, he has opened the season at this theater twenty-one times, surpassing the previous record, held by Enrico Caruso, four times. He made numerous debuts in the United States, especially in New York and San Francisco, although he also did not stop touring in cities in Europe, during the sixties. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1968. His presentations at La Scala, Santiago Municipal Theater and at the San Francisco Opera date from 1969, at Covent Garden in 1971 and at the Colón de Buenos Aires made his debut in 1972 with La Forza del Destino, by Verdi, together with Martina Arroyo. He returned to Colón in 1979 for La Fanciulla del West, in 1981 with Otello alongside Renato Bruson and Teresa Zylis-Gara, in 1982 with Tosca together with Eva Marton, in 1997 for Samson and Delilah and in 1998 he said goodbye with Fedora, by Giordano, together with Mirella Freni and Sherrill Milnes. On July 30, 1991, he was applauded for eighty-one minutes after performing Verdi's Othello at the Vienna State Opera, which constitutes the absolute record for applause held by Pavarotti up to that time.; that triumphant night, the great singer from Madrid had to return to the stage of the Opera a total of one hundred and one times.
She has sung at virtually every major opera house in the world and at major festivals. In 2005 he made his successful debut at the London Proms with the character of Siegmund (The Valkyrie ).
He has worked with Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, and Carlos Kleiber, among other conductors.
In his repertoire in several languages (Italian, French, German, Spanish, English and Russian), works by Händel and Mozart, Alberto Ginastera, Gustav Mahler or Tan Dun stand out. On stage he has sung more than a hundred different roles, and including the recordings, he exceeds a hundred and fifty.[citation needed] In Italian he has performed Il Trovatore, Don Carlos, Otello, Tosca and Turandot; in French, Faust, Werther, Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson and Delilah and Les Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann. He has successfully performed Wagnerian roles, both at the Bayreuth Festival and at other opera houses, notably in Lohengrin and Parsifal (a very outstanding performance in 1991), and Siegmund in Die Walküre (The Valkyrie).
Plácido Domingo continues to add operas to his repertoire, including Franco Alfano's recent work Cyrano de Bergerac at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House in London, as well as the opera El Primer Emperor of China (Qin Shihuang), by Tan Dun (2006), staged by Chinese film director Zhang Yimou.
Baroque opera has also become part of his repertoire, making his debut in this genre on March 26, 2008, playing the role of Bajazet in the play Tamerlano, by Georg Friedrich Händel (Theater Royal of Madrid).
He participated in the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games.
After seven years of absence in Mexico City, on December 19, 2009, he offered an open-air concert at the foot of the monument to the Independence of said city, in which he was accompanied for the first time by his son Plácido Jr. and the Mexican interpreters Eugenia Garza, María Alejandres and Olivia Gorra, singing arias from opera, zarzuela, poems, ranchera music and traditional Christmas songs.
Movies and TV
Domingo has appeared in seven filmed operas: Madama Butterfly, directed by Jean Pierre Ponnelle, Carmen, directed by Francesco Rosi (a Grammy Award winner), Tosca directed by Gianfranco de Bosio, as well as in three directed by Franco Zeffirelli: Otello, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, and La Traviata, with Teresa Stratas, who also received a Grammy Award, and also in numerous zarzuela videos, such as Luisa Fernanda, by Federico Moreno Torroba. In 2008, he participated in the dubbing in both English and Spanish of the film A Chihuahua from Beverly Hills with the character of Moctezuma.
On television, the zarzuela galas and retransmissions of Live at the Met can be highlighted, as well as charity galas or music lovers events such as A Night For New Orleans, with Frederica von Stade in March 2006.
Special Events
On September 19, 1985, during the largest earthquake in the history of Mexico that devastated part of Mexico City, especially in the Historic Center area and some nearby neighborhoods or neighborhoods, his aunt, uncle, a nephew and his nephew's young son, when the Edificio Nuevo León apartment block collapsed in the Tlatelolco urban complex. Plácido Domingo himself intervened in the rescue work. Throughout the following year he gave benefit concerts for the victims. One of the most important was on August 23, 1986, "Plácido y la amigos de él" at the Los Angeles Amphitheater, where Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews, John Denver and the Pandora group from Mexico participated. An album of one such event was also released.
On August 21, 2007, in recognition of his artistic work and his contribution to the victims of the 1985 earthquake, the artist was honored in the Mexican capital with a statue in his honor, cast from keys donated by the population. The piece, the work of the sculptor Alejandra Zúñiga, measures two meters, weighs close to three hundred kilograms and is part of the Grandes Valores project. In addition to his altruistic acts, Plácido Domingo has given houses to families without resources in Mexico, especially due to the damage caused by Hurricane Paulina, in the state of Guerrero. The construction company designed and named after her a model house, called "Plácido", of which thousands were built.
On December 18, 2009, Plácido Domingo was declared a Distinguished Guest of Mexico City by the head of the capital's government Marcelo Ebrard. On September 13, 2010, the LIX legislature of the Congress of the State of Guerrero awarded him the Sentiments of the Nation medal, the highest decoration awarded by the State Congress to distinguished personalities, within the framework of the First Congress of Anahuac or Congress of Chilpancingo. Plácido Domingo received this medal for his great altruistic work in the natural disasters of the 1985 Earthquake in Mexico City and Hurricane Paulina in the port of Acapulco; in these two disasters the tenor donated his earnings for a whole year. Because the tenor was in Los Angeles, the person who received this medal was his son José Plácido Domingo Guerra, on the evening of September 13, 2010, at the Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, in Chilpancingo, Warrior.
Finally, the Mexican government awarded him the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest award given by the Government of Mexico to foreign citizens, for his great work in caring for those affected by the 1985 earthquake.
Complaints of sexual harassment
On August 13, 2019, the Associated Press agency published the testimonies of nine women, eight of them singers and one dancer, of whom only one came forward publicly. They denounced that when they started in the profession they were victims of sexual harassment by the singer. The alleged victims explained that Domingo encouraged them to have sexual relations and that, if they refused, they would not obtain labor favors from the singer.
In a statement, the singer stated that the accusations were "inaccurate", that he believed that "all my interactions and relationships are always welcome and consensual" and that he was of the opinion that "the rules and standards by which we are, and must be, measures today are very different from what they were in the past". House in London, the Vienna Opera and the Teatro Real in Madrid kept the scheduled performances.
Paloma San Basilio and Ainhoa Arteta, singing professionals who have worked with Domingo, came out in his defense, dismissing these accusations as scoundrels and highlighting the tenor's always professional, friendly and generous attitude. Other professionals who spoke out In favor of the tenor were the sopranos Raina Kabaivanska, Sonya Yoncheva, Davinia Rodríguez and Saioa Hernández, the guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas and the tenor Javier Camarena.
On September 5, 2019, eleven new women accused Domingo of sexual harassment in an Associated Press report, including singer Angela Turner Wilson, who shared the bill with the singer when he was 28 during the performance of the opera Le Cid in the 1999-2000 season of the Washington Opera. Wilson recounts how Domingo forcefully groped her breasts while she was putting on her makeup in the dressing room, leaving her stunned and humiliated. they looked the other way. According to this publication, Plácido Domingo's behavior was an open secret known to all and young women were left to fend for themselves while administrators looked the other way. As a result of this new series of complaints, the Dallas Opera canceled the performance of Plácido Domingo scheduled for March 11, 2020.
On Tuesday, February 25, 2020, Plácido Domingo apologized to the women who accused him of sexual harassment for "the pain" that caused them, also accepting "full responsibility" for the actions denounced in the previous months. This request for forgiveness came after the investigation by the American union of opera artists, which concluded that Plácido Domingo sexually harassed several women and abused his position of authority by occupying high positions in the Washington National Opera and Los Angeles.
Repertoire
Distinctions and awards (selection)
- Prince of Asturias Award for Arts (1991), together with Victoria de los Angeles, Teresa Berganza, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Pilar Lorengar and Alfredo Kraus.
- Grand-Cruz of the Order of Infante D. Enrique de Portugal (1 July 1998).
- Kennedy Center Award (2000).
- Gran-Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil de España (2002, BOE 21/9/2002).
- Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States of America (2002).
- Ella Award (2002).
- Honorary Knight-Command of the Most Excelent Order of the British Empire of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2002).
- Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France (2002).
- International Medal of the Arts of the Community of Madrid (2006).
- Two 'Brit Awards' Awards, one for a whole career and the one for criticism, for recording Tristan and Isolda by Richard Wagner, with the orchestra and choir of the Royal Opera House of London, with the direction of Antonio Pappano (May 2006), collected at a gala held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
- Austrian Musical Theatre Award 2020 in Salzburg to his career. (2020)
Other acknowledgments
- Order to the Artistic and Cultural Merit Pablo Neruda of Chile (2010).
- Knight-Gran-Cruz of the Royal Order of Isabel the Catholic of Spain (2011).
- Order of the Arts and Letters of Spain (2011).
- Insignia de Oro y Brillantes del Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (2011).
- Wolf Award for Arts (2012).
- The Praemium Imperiale (September 2013).
- Adoptive Son of Seville (2017).
- Grand-Cruz of the Order of Public Instruction of Portugal (August 31, 2018).
- Since 1993, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Doctor honoris causa
- Royal Northern College of Music (1982).
- Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (1982).
- University of Oklahoma City (1984).
- Complutense University of Madrid (1989).
- University of New York (1990).
- Georgetown University (1992).
- Washington College in Chestertown (2000).
- Anáhuac University in Mexico (2001).
- University of Music Fryderyk Chopin of Warsaw (2003).
- University of Oxford (2003).
- Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio de Madrid (2011).
- European University of Madrid (2013).
- University of Murcia (2014)
- University of Salamanca (2015)
Grammy Awards
- 1983 - Best opera recording by Verdi: La Traviata.
- 1984 - Best opera recording by Bizet: Carmen.
- 1984 - Best Latin interpretation by Always In My Heart (Always in My Heart).
- 1988 - Best opera recording by Wagner: Lohengrin.
- 1990 - Best classical vocal performance, along with Carreras and Pavarotti, by The Three Tenors.
- 1992 - Best opera recording by R. Strauss: Die Frau Ohne Schatten.
- 1999 - Best interpretation of Mexican-American music by 100 years of mariachi.
Emmy Awards
He has also received two Emmy Awards, for television specials made in the United States:
- 1984 - Best classical music program by Great Performances: Placido Domingo Celebrates Seville.
- 1992 - Best classic single interpretation by The Metropolitan Opera Silver Anniversary Gala.
And two other nominations:
- 1986 - Best classic single interpretation by Great Performances: Cavalleria Rusticana.
- 1988 - Best classic single interpretation by Great Performances: Aida: From the Houston Grand Opera.
Professional activity
With José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, he formed the artistic society of The Three Tenors in Rome in 1990, on the occasion of the 1990 Italy World Cup. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation. Subsequently, it has been repeated in the following three World Cups: 1994, Los Angeles; 1998, Paris; and 2002, Yokohama. These performances by the three tenors, together with the conductor Zubin Mehta, tried to bring opera closer to the general public.
In 1992, associated with the British theater producer Cameron Mackintosh and the Spanish director and producer José Tamayo, he premiered the musical Les Miserables in Madrid, which opens on September 16 at the Nuevo Apolo theater. In 1993 he founded Operalia, a contest for young opera singers.
From 1994 to 2011 he was artistic director of the Washington National Opera, based at the Kennedy Center, in the US capital. In 1998 he was appointed artistic director of the Los Angeles Opera, of which he became director General in 2003, a position he resigned in 2019.
In the early years of the XXI century, he continued his work as a conductor and artist, both in operas and occasionally of symphony orchestras. He conducted for the first time on October 7, 1973 La Traviata , at the New York City Opera. He had a great success with Carmen for the opening of the Seville World's Fair in 1992. He conducted the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on November 8, 2005.
In 2002, he recorded the hymn for the centenary of Real Madrid CF, a song that he performed in the rain on the pitch of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium on the same day as the 100th anniversary.
In June 2006, he performed together with the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón on the occasion of the 2006 Soccer World Cup in Germany and at the closing ceremony of this event.
He participated in the event "Chile en mi corazón", on January 14, 2018, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his first performance in Chile, at the National Stadium in front of 43,000 people, in a concert together with the Philharmonic Orchestra from Bogotá, together with the Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, her son, also a singer Plácido Domingo, the guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas and the popular Chilean singer Mon Laferte.
In the years 2019-2021 he has performed uninterruptedly on stages in Berlin, Budapest, Cologne, Graz, Madrid, Mérida, Milan, Monte Carlo, Moscow, Munich, Palermo, Rome, Salzburg, Sofia, Verona, Versailles and Vienna.
Discography
He has over a hundred recordings, most of them corresponding to complete operas, often recording the same role several times.
The Penguin Guide highlights the following recordings as "of exceptional quality":
- Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffman (Hoffmann's Tales)with Sutherland, Tourangeau, Backquier, Orchestra of the Suisse Romande and Coro Lusanne ProArte, direction of Bonynge. London.
- R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Shadowless Woman)with Varady, Behrens, van Dam, Jo, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Solti's address. London
- Verdi: Il Trovatorewith Price, Milnes, Cossotto, Coro Amb Op, Orchestra New Philharmonia, Mehta's address. RCA
- Wagner: Lohengrinwith Norman, Randova, Nimsgern, Sotin, Fischer-Dieskau, Coro de la Ópera Estatal de Viena, Orquesta Filarmónica de Viena, Dirección Solti. Decca
Other recordings that can be highlighted are the following:
- Complete Operates. They emphasize:
- Cyle: Adriana Lecouvreur, Renata Scotto and Sherrill Milnes.
- Giordano: Andrea Chenier, led by James Levine with Renata Scotto and Sherrill Milnes (RCA).
- Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci, led by N. Santi, with the London Symphony Orchestra, Coro John Alldis (1965). DG.
- Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana, directed by Giuseppe Sinopoli, Orchestra Philharmonia of London, Coro de la Royal Opera House Covent Garden. DG.
- Verdi: Don Carlo, directed by Giulini, with the Orquesta del Covent garden and Coro de Ópera Ambrosiano (1970, EMI), is the Italian version in five acts; it was re-recorded, French version in five acts, with Claudio Abbado, the Orchestra and choir of the Tesatro La Scala in Milan in 1984 DG.
- Verdi: Aida, directed by Riccardo Muti, with the Orchestra New Philharmony, Coro del Covent Garden (1974). EMI also recorded it in the direction of James Levine, with the Orchestra and choir of the Metropolitan of New York (1991). Sony.
- Verdi: A ball in maschera (A mask dance), Recorded with the address of Riccardo Muti, Orchestra New Philharmony. Coro del Covent Garden in London (1975). EMI.
- Verdi: The force of destiny, with Riccardo Muti directing to the Orchestra and choir of the Teatro La Scala in Milan, 1986 (EMI).
- Verdi: Otello with James Levine and Renata Scotto and Sherrill Milnes (RCA), 1978.
- Verdi: Otello, directed by L. Maazel, Orchestra and choir of the Teatro La Scala in Milan, 1986 (EMI).
- Wagner: Parsifalled by James Levine, with the Orchestra and choir of the Metropolitan of New York (1994). Deutsche Grammophon.
- Wagner: Tristan and Isolda, with Nina Stemme, studio recording edited in August 2005 (EMI).
- Albums
- Recital Operatic (1970-1980) for HMV, compilation of recordings for the EMI.
- Bravissimo, Sunday (Various CDs, Selection of your entire career, RCA).
- Gala opera concert, with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Angels and the address of Carlo Maria Giulini, recording a recital of 1980 (Deutsche Grammophon). For DG has also recorded other opera arias selections, such as The best of Domingo.
- Great love scenesWith Renata Scotto, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Ileana Cotrubas. Compilation for CBS of various duos and scenes of love.
- Vienna, city of my dreamswith the English Chamber Orchestra led by Rudel, arias of Lehár, Zeller, Kálmán, Fall, O. Strauss, J. Strauss and Sieczynski (HMV).
There is a set of recordings of all the tenor arias written by Giuseppe Verdi, including several rarely performed versions, in languages other than the original opera, that Verdi composed for specific performances.
- Religious music
- Ave Mariawith the Children's Choir of Vienna, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the direction of Froschauer (1979, RCA).
- Sacred Songs, with the Orchestra of Milan Giuseppe Verdi and the direction of Marcello Viotti (2002, Deutsche Grammophon).
- Zarzuela
- Lyric comedy in three acts Doña Francisquita, by Amadeo Vives, directed by M. Roa, with the Seville Symphony Orchestra, Coro head of the Gran Teatro de Córdoba (1994). Sony.
- Other
He has recorded numerous albums, among them: Domingo sings the songs of Agustín Lara, 100 years of Mariachi, Quiéreme mucho, The Sunday Songbook, Always in my heart; the latter contains exceptional music where the tenor interprets songs by Ernesto Lecuona accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and De mi alma latina (1 and 2). In 2006 he published the album Italia ti amo . And in 2006 he interpreted the song & # 34; Alborada & # 34; from the telenovela of the same name starring Lucero and Fernando Colunga. Plácido appeared on the album cover with the music from the soap opera and several of his hits were included on the soundtrack.
- DVD
- Puccini: Manon Lescaut - Renata Scotto, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera
- Puccini: Madama Butterfly - Mirella Freni, Herbert von Karajan, Film by Jean Pierre Ponnelle
- Verdi: Luisa Miller - Renata Scotto, James Morris, James Levine - Metropolitan Opera
- Verdi: Otello - Kiri te Kanawa, Sergei Leiferkus, Sir Georg Solti, Covent Garden
- Zandonai: Francesca de Rimini - Renata Scotto, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera
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