Celebrity Opera Series Continues With Plácido Domingo And Soprano Ailyn Pérez At The Broad Stage

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage's 2018-19 Celebrity Opera Series continues -Plácido Domingo with soprano Ailyn Pérez on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30pm. Eugene Kohn conducts the orchestra.

Tickets are on sale on November 8 at thebroadstage.org or by calling 310-434-3200.

Plácido Domingo - the great opera star of our era - one of the finest and most influential singing actors in the history of the medium. He recently sang his 150th role, while planning his 151st -- a peerless achievement amidst his superlative accomplishments that include 3,900 performances since he made his professional operatic debut on August 23, 1959, and the recording of more than 100 albums. He is the winner of 12 Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil and appeared on Sesame Street and The Simpsons as himself.

The New York Times said, "Plácido Domingo, Opera Superstar ... it's as if Tom Brady were still winning Super Bowls in his 50s - while playing three sports at once." Times critic Zachary Woolfe said, "It's still a display not to be missed ... you almost don't believe your eyes or ears. Unprecedented in opera history."

Ailyn Pérez is in demand at the world's leading opera houses and cultural capitals. Hailed by The New York Times as "a major soprano," she has won both the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, thereby becoming the only Hispanic recipient in the award's 35-year history, and the 15th annual Plácido Domingo Award. She was also an Operalia Finalist (2nd place) in 2006 at Valencia. As Opera News observes, "The phrase 'an embarrassment of riches' might have been invented to describe the combination of talents that belong to Ailyn Pérez ... who truly seems to have it all."

The Celebrity Opera Series is made possible by generous support from The Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation. The Foundation continues to make contributions to strengthen the concert series at The Broad Stage and enrich the cultural life of Los Angeles.

About Plácido Domingo and Ailyn Pérez

Plácido Domingo is a world-renowned, multifaceted artist. Recognized as one of the finest and most influential singing actors in the history of opera, he is also a conductor and a major force as an opera administrator in his role as Eli and Edythe Broad General Director of Los Angeles Opera. His repertoire now encompasses 150 roles, with more than 3,900 career performances.

He is also Chairman of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry; President of Europa Nostra; Founder of Operalia, the World Opera Competition; and proprietor of Pampano, his restaurant in New York City. The more Domingo has studied, travelled and performed, the deeper his love of music has become.

His more than 100 recordings of complete operas, compilations of arias and duets, and crossover discs have earned him 12 Grammy Awards, including three Latin Grammys, and he has made more than 50 music videos and won two Emmy Awards. In addition to starring in three feature opera films-Carmen, La Traviata and Otello-he voiced the roles of Monte in Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Skeleton Jorge in the recent animated film The Book of Life, and also appeared as himself on Sesame Street and The Simpsons.

His telecast of Tosca from the authentic settings in Rome was seen by more than one billion people in 117 countries. He subsequently took the title role in a 2010 live telecast of Rigoletto from Mantua, Italy, the city in which the opera's story takes place. In 1990, he and his colleagues José Carreras and the late Luciano Pavarotti formed the Three Tenors, performing with enormous success all over the world and attracted millions of new fans to opera.

He has conducted more than 500 opera performances and symphonic concerts with the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Chicago Symphony, Vienna Philharmonic, Montréal Symphony, National Symphony, London Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Berlin Philharmonic. In 2018, he made his conducting debut at the Bayreuth Festival, leading performances of Die Walküre.

In 1993, he founded the international voice competition Operalia. He has received honorary doctorates from Oxford University, New York University, Harvard and University of Salamanca for his lifelong commitment and contribution to music and the arts. He made his first stage appearances in a leading baritone role in 2009, performing the title role of Simon Boccanegra in Berlin. Since then, he has added several additional Verdi baritone roles to his repertoire, with appearances in Don Carlo, Rigoletto, I Due Foscari, La Traviata, Nabucco, Giovanna d'Arco, Il Trovatore, Macbeth, Ernani and Luisa Miller. He has also won acclaim in the baritone roles of Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs, the title role of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, and Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles (his 150th role, as of on August 23, 2018, which he performed at the Salzburg Festival).

In addition to numerous concerts worldwide, his singing engagements for the 2018/19 season include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Royal Opera House Muscat; the title role of Gianni Schicchi with the Metropolitan Opera; Rodrigo in Don Carlo and Juanillo in El Gato Montés for Los Angeles Opera; the title role of Simon Boccanegra with the Vienna State Opera; the title role of Macbeth with Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden; and the title role of Nabucco with the Semperoper Dresden. Further engagements include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Munich Opera Festival and Giacomo in Giovanna d'Arco with Madrid's Teatro Real.

His conducting engagements for the season include a concert of Spanish music with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, a gala concert with the Vienna Philharmonic at La Scala in Milan, as well as productions of Aida for the Metropolitan Opera and of La Traviata for the Royal Opera House Muscat.

Ailyn Pérez' career highlights include Violetta La traviata for Opernhaus Zürich, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Teatro all Scala Milan and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where she was hailed as "an ideal Violetta" (Observer, UK). Pérez then went on to appear at Covent Garden in the same season, as the title role in Massenet's Manon, and for her role debut as Liù Turandot. Other highlights include Mimì, Musetta La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera; Adina L'elisir d'amore for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper and Washington National Opera; Countess Le nozze di Figaro for Houston Grand Opera (having made her house debut as Desdemona Otello in 2015); Violetta and title role Manon on a tour of Japan with the Royal Opera House; Tatyana Bakst in the World Premiere of Jake Heggie's Great Scott and Manon for Dallas Opera; house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre as Mimì La bohème and at Glyndebourne as Alice Ford; Countess Le nozze di Figaro and Marguerite Faust for Hamburgische Staatsoper; Marguerite Faust in Santa Fe and Amelia Grimaldi Simon Boccanegra at Teatro alla Scala, the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and opposite Leo Nucci at Opernhaus Zürich.

In concert Ailyn has performed Verdi's Requiem with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Mozart's Requiem with Antonio Pappano and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome and Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with Essen Philharmoniker. In recent seasons Ailyn has sung opposite Carreras, Bocelli and with Plácido Domingo in gala concerts at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and has made guest appearances at several gala concerts for the Metropolitan Opera. Ailyn has also appeared in recital at London's Rosenblatt Recitals, at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and for Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Her debut album, Poème d'un jour (a program of French and Italian songs on the Opus Arte label) was released to rave reviews; with the UK's Independent newspaper awarding it five stars, while International Record Review confessed, "Every so often, a singer comes along who completely bowls you over."

Eugene Kohn was immersed in opera from a very young age, accompanying the vocal classes of such "golden age" stars as Giovanni Martinelli and Maria Jeritza. He became the conducting "protégée" of the Metropolitan Opera's Fausto Cleva, and in the 1970's began performing in public as recital accompanist to some of opera's greatest voices: Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe DiStefano, Franco Corelli, Maria Callas, and the young Luciano Pavarotti.

Kohn had the opportunity to study the central European symphonic repertoire with Erich Leinsdorf, and was assistant in symphonic, choral, and operatic repertoire to Thomas Schippers. Several years of conducting regional symphony orchestras and opera companies led to his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1980, conducting "La Gioconda". His reengagement at the MET for several different productions led to debuts in major international theatres.

While based in Europe through the 1980's and 1990's Kohn conducted at the opera houses of Vienna, Hamburg, Berlin (both), Barcelona, Rome, Naples, Paris, Buenos Aires, etc. He held the position of Principal Guest Conductor at the Bonn Opera, where he broadened his German repertoire with productions of "Fliegende Hollaender", "Rosenkavalier", "Zauberfloete", "Fidelio" etc. He also served for eight years as Music Director of the Puerto Rico Symphony, increasing their repertoire with cycles of Mahler, Stravinsky, and Bruckner.

For the last ten years Kohn has divided his time equally between symphony and opera. He is also active as Music Director for concerts worldwide with Plácido Domingo, a collaboration of several decades well documented on DVD and recordings. He tours as Music Director for tenor Andrea Bocelli, and has conducted as well for Brynn Terfel, Anna Netrebko, and Angela Georhgiu, Recently he debuted with the Leipzig Gewandhaus in a Verdi Gala featuring Plácido Domingo. This season he will conduct another concert with featuring Vittorio Grigolo and Angela Gheorghiu in Santa Monica.

Kohn has precorded for EMI, Sony, and DECCA, and can also be seen as screen actor in Zeffirelli's film "Callas Forever" (with Jerermy Irons and Fanny Ardant) where he recreates his real life role from years earlier as Ms. Callas' accompanist.