On January 21, 2011, Plácido Domingo, one of the greatest living tenors today, will celebrate his 70th birthday. With a career that has spanned nearly 50 years and the entire globe, it is no wonder that he is justifiably beloved the world over. Deutsche Grammophon has recorded Domingo since 1970 and celebrates these 40 years not only with new releases of both his existing recordings and an all-new complete opera, but also with the comprehensive website Domingo70.com. The website encourages the public to sample audio and video clips from the Deutsche Grammophon and Decca catalogs, as well as personally wish Domingo "Happy Birthday" on the artist's Facebook page.
www.Domingo70.com has been specially built by Deutsche Grammophon to give the public access to the amazing recorded legacy Domingo has on the various Universal Music labels and encourage the exploration of audio and video clips of this vast archive. From the 1970 recording of Weber's Oberon to the all-new recording of Giordano's Fedora, which is just now being released, the site streams clips from all currently available video and audio opera- and compilation-album recordings from DG & Decca. In addition to highlighting material from "The Plácido Domingo Story" (more information below), the site attempts to be as inclusive as possible. Such a rarity as his recording of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust with Barenboim is also included.
Starting today, fans can leave Domingo a personal birthday wish or note on his Facebook page and will be automatically entered into drawings which will take place every two weeks with the prize of a gift certificate redeemable in the www.DGWebShop.com.
The statistics alone are astonishing: nearly 3,500 performances of more than 130 major tenor roles; a repertoire that includes operas by Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Berlioz, Wagner, Verdi, Mercadante, Gounod, Offenbach, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Ponchielli, Gomes, Tchaikovsky, Boito, Massenet, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Albéniz, Mascagni, Charpentier, Giordano, Cilea, Alfano, Zandonai, Montemezzi, Moreno Torroba, Menotti,
Tan Dun, Daniel Catán - the list goes on and on; recent incursions into the lyric baritone repertoire; more than 100 live and studio-made recordings of complete operas and countless other recordings as well; seven Grammy awards and three Latin Grammy awards; honorary doctorates and governmental honors all over the world; nearly 500 performances as a conductor; the general directorship of two major American opera ensembles; the creation of Operalia, an international opera competition, and three young artist programs (Washington, Los Angeles and Valencia); humanitarian work on behalf of flood and earthquake victims in Mexico and the United States and for other causes... One can only marvel at the range, density and depth of the activities of this human dynamo, this many-sided musician and man of the theater, who shows no sign of slowing down as he approaches his eighth decade.
The Plácido Domingo Story
To tell the story of Plácido Domingo's recordings is a nearly impossible task given the sheer number of releases in multiple genres. This 3-CD deluxe set (presented in hardcover) attempts to pay tribute to this recorded legacy. The first two CDs are devoted to opera arias, beginning with a very rare 1968 recital and ending with a recent recital of rare Leoncavallo (released in 2010). The third CD presents the "other" Domingo with selections from zarzuela to lighter classics and operetta. In total, Plácido Domingo's discography on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca extends to 99 items, counting both original LP/CD and DVD releases. This does not include compilations derived from his original albums or multi-artist compilations in which he is included. There are 45 complete operas (including works in Spanish) on CD and 22 on DVD; plus 32 single "one-off" releases, comprising a great variety of genres. This complete discography with color photos is included in this deluxe edition as well as on the Domingo70 website.
Plácido Domingo: The Opera Collection
As a more substantial exploration of Domingo's catalog, Deutsche Grammophon & Decca Classics offer this 26-CD set featuring 13 complete opera recordings. Spanning over 20 years of recordings, many of these sets are considered benchmark recordings and have never been out of print. Included are recordings of Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Tosca, Turandot, I
L Barbiere di Siviglia, Samson et Dalila, Il trovatore, La traviata, Otello and Lohengrin. The booklet for this set includes the complete track listing and synopsis for each opera.
Fedora
Not only does DG salute Domingo with recordings from his catalog (of which over 75% is still active to this day - an impressive achievement for any artist - but DG is proud to release this all-new recording of
Umberto Giordano's Fedora featuring the tenor with soprano Angela Gheorghiu. Though not performed often, this verismo gem boasts a number of well-known arias and scenes. Domingo proves that after 50 years of actively performing he still has the ability to thrill audiences with his dark, virile sound and impeccable musicianship. The release, his first studio recording of the opera, is conducted by Alberto Veronesi with whom Domingo has collaborated on a number of rare verismo recordings over the past few years including recordings of Edgar and I Medici.
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