The Zarzuela Companion

The son of zarzuela singers, Placido Domingo was born in Madrid, Spain, but lived in Mexico from the age of 7. While in Mexico, Domingo learned piano, conducting, and singing. In 1961 Domingo played his first important tenor role as Alfredo in La Traviata in Monterrey, Mexico. Between 1962 and 1965, Domingo was a member of the Israeli National Opera, where he sang 300 performances of 10 operas, most of them in Hebrew. In 1965 Domingo made his American debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the New York City Opera. In his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, Domingo played the tenor lead in Adriana Lecouvreur.

This lyric tenor has performed throughout the world and is widely regarded as the supreme lyric-dramatic tenor of the late twentieth century. He is known for the many excellent leading roles he has sung in operas, which include Tosca, Aida, Otello, Carmen, and Tales of Hoffman. In 1986, Domingo played Otello in Franco Zeffirelli's film version of Verdi's Otello. In 1991, the tenors Jose Carreras, Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti teamed up to record In Concert, which has sold over 5 million CDs and cassettes worldwide. In Concert rose to number one on the U.S. classical charts for that year. It was also ranked number 43 on Billboard's pop charts, the highest any classical recording has climbed since rock-and-roll dominated album charts in the mid-1960s.

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