Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo (born January 21, 1941) is a world-renowned opera singer, conductor, and general manager. He is noted for his versatility as a tenor; his repertoire includes roles in French (Faust, Werther), German (Lohengrin, Parsifal) and Italian (Il Trovatore, Don Carlo, Otello). He has recorded, and released as a boxed set that has had generally favorable reviews from critics, every tenor aria Verdi wrote (including several rarely-recorded versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote specially for performances in those countries).
He was born in Madrid, Spain, but moved to Mexico as a child with his family, who ran a zarzuela company . In Mexico City he studied music at the National Conservatory. He learned piano and conducting, but made his stage debut as a tenor in 1959 as Alfredo in La Traviata. In 1962 he joined the Israeli National Opera, and first performed at the Met in New York in 1965. He made his debut at La Scala in 1969 and at Covent Garden in 1971. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000.
In 1981 he gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American folk/pop music singer John Denver. Domingo became a household name as a member of The Three Tenors, with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras, who gave a series of concerts initially during the Soccer World Cups. The fees received were in line with the size of the audience, as well as the video and sound recordings, which were multi-platinum. These concerts were just that, unstaged, and, therefore, have no bearing on the communication process that the "purists" complained about at the time. It can be equally argued that that the Three Tenors have opened up a larger audience with their honest, direct approach to their art.
Signor Domingo has appeared in at least three opera videos of note: "Carmen" by Bizet, "Otello" by Verdi, and "La Traviata", also by Verdi. He has appeared on television, both in "Zarzuela" evenings, and "Live at the Met" broadcasts.
Domingo is also active as a conductor of opera and as artistic director of two opera companies. He was first named artistic director of the Washington Opera and later of the Los Angeles Opera.