Photo Flash: First Look at San Francisco Opera's PLACIDO DOMINGO Concert

San Francisco Opera presented Plácido Domingo in concert on Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 2 p.m. The legendary artist returned to the War Memorial Opera House with Puerto Rican soprano Ana María Martínez, Mexican tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Spanish conductor Jordi Bernàcer for this sold-out performance of operatic scenes from Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata and Simon Boccanegra, along with arias and duets from Spanish zarzuelas.

Domingo's partnership with San Francisco Opera is one of the most notable and long-lasting in Company history dating back to 1969 when he made his San Francisco Opera debut as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème. A regularly featured artist with the Company, Domingo has portrayed 14 leading tenor roles with San Francisco Opera, including unforgettable performances in the title roles of Verdi's Otello, Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann and most recently Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac.

Throughout his distinguished tenure with the Company, Domingo has also performed Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca and Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West; Don José in Bizet's Carmen; Manrico in Verdi's Il Trovatore; Vasco da Gama in Meyerbeer'sL'Africaine; Turiddu in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana; Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Jean in Massenet's Hérodiade. His appearances with the Company include numerous concerts and recitals at the War Memorial Opera House, Civic Auditorium, Stern Grove and Golden Gate Park. In 1994, he was awarded the San Francisco Opera Medal, the Company's highest honor.

Maestro Domingo's return to the War Memorial Opera House stage on October 21 marks his first performance with San Francisco Opera since 2010. The occasion also coincides with the 35th anniversary of the famous 1983 season-opening performance of Verdi'sOtello which he sang on short notice. When the scheduled Otello cancelled on the morning of the performance, Domingo was reached in New York and he agreed to sing. The tenor flew across the country, went straight to the opera house, put on his Otello costume and gave a memorable performance, which due to the leading man's air travel, began at 10:30 p.m. and concluded at 2:06 a.m.

A world-renowned, multifaceted artist who is recognized as one of the finest and most influential singing actors in the history of opera, Maestro Domingo's repertoire encompasses 150 tenor and baritone roles and his singing and conducting engagements exceed 3,900 performances. He continues to serve as General Director of Los Angeles Opera and oversee Operalia The World Opera Competition, which he founded in 1993. His more than 100 recordings of complete operas, arias and crossover discs have earned him 12 Grammy Awards, including three Latin Grammys, and he has more than 50 music videos and won two Emmy Awards. In 1990, he and colleagues José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti formed the Three Tenors and subsequently performed with enormous success around the world and attracted millions of new fans to opera. During the 2017-18 Season, Domingo made his Bayreuth Festival conducting debut leading Wagner's Die Walküre; conducted Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera and sang in opera performances in Beijing, Madrid, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and the Salzburg Festival.

Audiences are well acquainted with soprano Ana María Martínez, tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz and conductor Jordi Bernàcer from their work with San Francisco Opera in recent seasons. Martínez and Chacón-Cruz last appeared with the Company in 2017 as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Rodolfo in La Bohème, respectively, while Bernàcer was resident conductor from 2015 to 2017, leading the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in performances of Rigoletto, Aida, Madama Butterfly and Carmen. In the La Traviataexcerpt, the trio of Domingo, Martínez and Chacón-Cruz will be joined by current San Francisco Opera Adler Fellow mezzo-soprano Ashley Dixon and San Francisco Opera Chorus members Christopher Jackson and Bojan Kneževi?. Morgan Robinson is stage director.

To post a comment, you must register and login.