Statue of Kálmán in Siófok

Emmerich (or Imre) Kálmán (24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Hungarian-born composer of operettas.

Biography[link]

Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, Hungary (formerly Austria-Hungary) in a Jewish family.

Kálmán initially intended to become a concert pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition instead. He studied music theory and composition at the National Hungarian Royal Academy of Music (then the Budapest Academy of Music), where he was a fellow student of Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály under Hans Kössler. His early symphonic poems were well-received, although he failed to achieve publication.

However, the popularity of his humorous cabaret songs led him towards the composition of operettas. His first great success was Tatárjárás - Ein Herbstmanöver in German, meaning 'Autumn Maneuver', although the English title is The Gay Hussars, which was first staged at the Lustspieltheater in Budapest, on 22 February 1908. Thereafter he moved to Vienna where he achieved worldwide fame by composing his operettas Der Zigeunerprimas, Die Csárdásfürstin, Gräfin Mariza, and Die Zirkusprinzessin.

Bust of Kálmán in Siófok

Kálmán and Franz Lehár were the leading composers of what has been called the "Silver Age" of Viennese operetta during the first quarter of the 20th century. He became well known for his fusion of Viennese waltz with Hungarian csárdás. Even so, polyphonically and melodically, Kálmán was a devoted follower of Giacomo Puccini, while in his orchestration methods he employed principles characteristic of Tchaikovsky's music.

Despite his Jewish origins he was one of Adolf Hitler's favorite composers. After the Anschluss, he rejected Hitler's offer to become an 'honorary Aryan' and was forced to move first to Paris, then to the United States, settling in California in 1940.^[1] Following his emigration, performances of his works were prohibited in Nazi Germany. He emigrated back to Vienna from New York in 1949 before moving in 1951 to Paris, where he died.

Operettas with place and date of first production[link]

• Tatárjárás – Budapest, 1908
  • Ein Herbstmanöver – Vienna, 1909 (German version of Tatárjárás)
  • The Gay Hussars – New York, 1909 (American version of Tatárjárás)^[2]
  • Autumn Manoeuvres – London, 1912 (English version of Tatárjárás)
• Az obsitos – Budapest, 1910
  • Der gute Kamerad – Vienna, 1911 (German revision of Az Obsitos)
  • Gold gab ich für Eisen – Vienna, 1914 (revision of Der gute Kamerad)
  • Her Soldier Boy – New York, 1916^[3]
  • Soldier Boy – London, 1918
  • A Soldier's Promise – Wooster, Ohio, 2005
• Der Zigeunerprimas – Vienna, 1912
  • Sari – New York, 1914^[4]
• The Blue House – London, 1912
• Der kleine König – Vienna, 1912
• Zsuzsi kisasszony – Budapest, 1915
  • Miss Springtime – New York, 1916^[5]
  • Die Faschingsfee – Vienna, 1917 (German revision of Zsuzsi kisasszony)
• Die Csárdásfürstin – Vienna, 1915
  • The Riviera Girl – New York, 1917^[6]
  • The Gipsy Princess – London, 1921
  • The Csárdás Princess – Cleveland, 2010
• Das Hollandweibchen – Vienna, 1920
  • A Little Dutch Girl – London, 1920
  • The Dutch Girl – U.S., 1925
• Die Bajadere – Vienna, 1921
  • The Yankee Princess – New York, 1922^[7]
• Gräfin Mariza – Vienna, 1924
  • Countess Maritza – New York, 1926^[8]
  • Maritza – London, 1938
• Die Zirkusprinzessin – Vienna, 1926
  • The Circus Princess – New York, 1927^[9]
• Golden Dawn – New York, 1927^[10]
• Die Herzogin von Chicago – Vienna, 1928
  • The Duchess of Chicago – U.S., 1929
• Das Veilchen vom Montmartre – Vienna, 1930
  • Paris in Spring – U.S., 1930
  • A Kiss in Spring – London, 1932
• Der Teufelsreiter – Vienna, 1932
• Kaiserin Josephine – Zurich, 1936
• Miss Underground – written 1942, unproduced
• Marinka – New York, 1945^[11]
• Arizona Lady – Bern, 1954

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Clarke, Kevin. "Im Himmel spielt auch schon die Jazzband." Emmerich Kálmán und die transatlantische Operette 1928–1932. Hamburg: von Bockel Verlag, 2007 (examines Kálmán's jazz-operettas of the 1920s, with extensive English quotes from historical Broadway- and West End reviews)
• Article on the operettas of Kálmán
• Histocial reviews and a biography/worklist by Kurt Gänzl)

Further reading[link]

• Nagibin, Yuri. Вечная музыка. Russia, ACT, 2004.(hardcover, ISBN 5-17-021655-6) (pp. 201–345)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Emmerich Kálmán

• Links to numerous Kálmán recordings

Domingo speaks at the National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors on October 31, 2008, in Washington, DC.

Plácido Domingo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈplaθiðo ðoˈmiŋɡo]; born 21 January 1941),^[1] born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role,^[2] and as of July 2011, his 136 roles give Domingo more roles than any other tenor.^[3]

One of The Three Tenors, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, and he is the General Director of the Los Angeles Opera in California.

Biography and career[link]

Early years[link]

Plácido Domingo (1979)

Plácido Domingo was born on January 21, 1941, in the distrito de Retiro^[4] section of Madrid, Spain, and in 1949 moved to Mexico with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. He studied piano at first privately and later at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City.

In 1957, Domingo made his first professional appearance, performing with his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatán. He made his opera debut performing in Manuel Fernández Caballero's zarzuela, Gigantes y cabezudos, singing a baritone role. At that time, he was working with his parents' zarzuela company, taking baritone roles and as an accompanist for other singers. Among his first performances was a minor role in the first Mexican production of My Fair Lady where he was also the assistant conductor and assistant coach. The company gave 185 performances, which included a production of Lehár's The Merry Widow in which he performed alternately as either Camille or Danilo.

In 1959, Domingo auditioned for the Mexico National Opera as a baritone, but was then asked to sight-read some arias and lines in the tenor range. Finally he was accepted in the National Opera as a tenor comprimario and as a tutor for other singers. He provided backup vocals for Los Black Jeans in 1958, a rock-and-roll band led by César Costa. He studied piano and conducting, but made his stage debut acting in a minor role in 1959 (12 May) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in Marina. It was followed by Borsa in Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil and Norman Treigle also in the cast), Padre Confessor (Dialogues of the Carmelites) and others.

He played piano for a ballet company to supplement his income as well as playing piano for a program on Mexico's newly founded cultural television station. The program consisted of excerpts from zarzuelas, operettas, operas, and musical comedies. He acted in a few small parts while at the theater in plays by Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, and Anton Chekhov.

1960s–1980s[link]

In 1961, Domingo made his operatic debut in a leading role as Alfredo in La Traviata at Monterrey (Maria Teresa Montoya theater) and, later in the same year, his debut in the United States with the Dallas Civic Opera, where he played the role of Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland in the title role.

In 1962, he returned to Texas to play the role of Edgardo in the same opera with Lily Pons at the Fort Worth Opera.^[5] At the end of 1962, he signed a six-month contract with the Israel National Opera in Tel Aviv, but later extended the contract and stayed for two and a half years, singing 280 performances of 12 different roles.

In June 1965, after finishing his contract with Israel National Opera, Domingo went for an audition at the New York City Opera and scheduled to make his New York debut as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen, but his debut came earlier when he was asked to fill in for an ailing tenor at the last minute in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. On 17 June 1965, Domingo made his New York debut as B. F. Pinkerton at the New York City Opera. In February 1966, he sang the title role in the U.S. premiere of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. The performance also marked the opening of the City Opera's new home at Lincoln Center.

His official debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York occurred on 28 September 1968 when he substituted for Franco Corelli, in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur singing with Renata Tebaldi. Before Adriana Lecouvreur, he had sung in performances by the Metropolitan Opera at Lewisohn Stadium of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in 1966. Since then, he has opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera 21 times,^[6] surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967; at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968; at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969; at the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company in 1970; and at Covent Garden in 1971. He has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide. In 1971, he sang Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera, and continued to sing that part for many years, singing it, in fact, more than any other role.^[7]

Domingo has also conducted opera — as early as 7 October 1973, La traviata at the New York City Opera with Patricia Brooks — and occasionally symphony orchestras as well. In 1981 Domingo gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American country/folk music singer John Denver. In 1987, he and Denver joined Julie Andrews for an Emmy Award-winning holiday television special, The Sound of Christmas, filmed in Salzburg, Austria.

On 19 September 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated part of the Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew's young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he performed benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.

1990s – present[link]

A statue in Mexico City as a recognition to his contributions to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims and his artistic works

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s until today, Domingo has continued performing, singing many of the same roles, but adding new roles as well — among them the title roles in Wagner's Parsifal and Mozart's Idomeneo; Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia as Figaro; Wagner's Die Walküre as Siegmund; Lehár's The Merry Widow as Danilo; and Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano. From the middle 1990s to early in 2008 alone, he added 38 new roles to his repertoire, covering opera in six different languages (English, Italian, French, German, Russian and Spanish). The latest was the Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, Tamerlano.

Giving him even greater international recognition outside of the world of opera, Domingo participated in The Three Tenors concert at the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final in Rome with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals (1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin, along with rising stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. On 24 August 2008, Domingo performed a duet with Song Zuying, singing Ài de Huǒyàn (The Flame of Love) at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing.^[8][9][10] The Beijing Olympics was the second Olympics at which he performed; he sang the Olympic Hymn at the closing ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics.^[11] At the Olympic games that followed that, he would meet Sissel Kyrkjebø, who performed the Olympic Hymn at both the opening and closing ceremonies at those games.

In what has been called his 'final career move', Plácido Domingo announced on 25 January 2007 that in 2009, he would take on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, singing the title role in Simon Boccanegra. The debut performance was at Berlin State Opera on October 24, followed by 29 other performances during 2009/2010 at major opera houses around the world.^[12] He would, however, continue to sing tenor roles beforehand and afterwards.

On 16–17 April 2008, he sang during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI at Nationals Park and at the Italian embassy in Washington D.C. Since 1990 Plácido Domingo has received many awards and honors for his achievement in the field of music and in recognition of his many benefit concerts and contributions to various charities.

On 15 March 2009, The Metropolitan Opera paid tribute to Domingo's 40th anniversary with the company with an on-stage gala dinner at the Met's 125th anniversary, commemorating his debut in Adriana Lecouvreur as Maurizio opposite Renata Tebaldi on 28 September 1968.^[13]

On 29 August 2009, he sang Panis Angelicus at the funeral mass of Senator Ted Kennedy in the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston, Massachusetts.^[14]

On September 20, 2010, Domingo announced that he would renew his contract as General Director of the Los Angeles Opera through 2013.^[15] On September 27, 2010, Domingo announced that he will not renew his contract as General Director of the Washington National Opera beyond its June 2011 expiration date.^[16]

Ever a sympathetic colleague, in March 2011 he refused to sing in Buenos Aires until the city settled a bitter musicians strike at the Teatro Colón.^[17]

On Dec. 31, 2011, Domingo sang Neptune in the Metropolitan Opera's World Premiere performance of The Enchanted Island, a pastiche of Baroque opera with story and characters drawn from Shakespeare's The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream. A performance of this production has been telecast on PBS' Great Performances at the Met.

On 13 May 2012, Domingo performed during Real Madrid CF's season ending celebrations, the team having won their 32nd league title. Domingo is a fan of Los Merengues.

Family[link]

He was born to Plácido Francisco Domingo Ferrer (8 March 1907 – 22 November 1987) ^[18] and Pepita Embil Echaníz (28 February 1918 – 28 September 1994),^[19] two Spanish zarzuela stars who nurtured his early musical abilities. Domingo's father was half Catalan and half Aragonese, while his mother was a Basque. His father was a violinist performing for opera and zarzuela orchestra. He was a baritone and actively taking roles in zarzuela. However his promising career as a baritone ended after he damaged his voice by singing with a cold. Domingo's mother was an established singer who made her zarzuela debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She met her husband at age 21 while performing in Federico Moreno Torroba's Sor Navarra. In 1946 Moreno Torroba and Domingo's parents formed a zarzuela company and travelled frequently to Mexico. His parents later stayed permanently in Mexico and established their own zarzuela troupe, the Domingo-Embil Company.^[20] In addition to their son, they also have a daughter, Maria José Domingo de Fernandez .

On 29 August 1957 at age 16, Plácido Domingo married a fellow piano student, Ana María Guerra Cué (1938–2006) and his first son, José Plácido Domingo Guerra (Pepe) was born on 16 June 1958.^[21] However, the marriage didn't last long, the couple separating shortly thereafter. On 1 August 1962, Plácido Domingo married Marta Ornelas, born 1935, a lyric soprano from Veracruz, Mexico, whom he met during his conservatory days.^[22] In the same year, Marta had been voted "Mexican Singer of the Year", but she gave up her promising career to devote her time to her family. They have two sons, Plácido Francisco (Plácido Jr.) born on 21 October 1965 and Alvaro Maurizio born on 11 October 1968.^[23] After a period of time living in Israel, Domingo and his family resided in Teaneck, New Jersey.^[24][25][26] During vacations, he usually spends his time with family in their vacation home in Acapulco, Mexico.^[27][28]

In March 2010 he underwent surgery for colon cancer.^[29]

Recordings[link]

Domingo has made well over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once. Among these recordings is a boxed set of every tenor aria Verdi ever wrote, including several rarely performed versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote for specific performances.

In August 2005, EMI Classics released a new studio recording of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in which Domingo sings the title role of Tristan. A review of this recording, headlined "Vocal perfections", that appeared in the 8 August 2005 issue of The Economist begins with the word "Monumental" and ends with the words, "a musical lyricism and a sexual passion that make the cost and the effort entirely worthwhile". It characterized his July 2005 performance of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden as "unforgettable" and "luminous". The review also remarks that Domingo is still taking on roles that he has not previously performed.

Recordings that were released in 2006 include studio recordings of Puccini's Edgar, Isaac Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez, as well as a selection of Italian and Neapolitan songs, titled Italia ti amo (all three with Deutsche Grammophon). Domingo appeared as the star act in the New Orleans Opera Association's A Night For New Orleans with Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral, in March 2006. The concert was to raise funds for the rebuilding of the city. In September 2011, aged 70, he signed an exclusive record contract with Sony Classics.^[30]

Appearances on film and television[link]

Domingo at the 81st Academy Awards

See Domingo's opera recording in DVD/VHS format and audio CD format.

Domingo has appeared in numerous opera films, among them are Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's Madama Butterfly; Gianfranco de Bosio's Tosca with Raina Kabaivanska; Giuseppe Patroni Griffi's Tosca with Catherine Malfitano (Emmy Award);^[31] Franco Zeffirelli's Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci — all made for television — and, for theatrical release, Francesco Rosi's Carmen (Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording); Zeffirelli's Otello with Katia Ricciarelli; and Zeffirelli's La traviata (with Teresa Stratas, which received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording).

His singing voice was heard performing the song "In Pace", during the closing credits of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).

He has also appeared on television in the 1978 La Scala production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut which marked the Scala debut of Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, as well in zarzuela evenings, and Live at the Met telecasts and broadcasts. In 2007, Domingo had a cameo role in The Simpsons episode "Homer of Seville", which revolves around Homer Simpson becoming an opera singer. In his cameo, Domingo sang briefly. Domingo appeared on The Cosby Show Season 5 as Alberto Santiago, a colleague of Dr. Cliff Huxtable.

In 1989, the international television series 'Return Journey' featured Domingo returning to his home city of Madrid reflecting life there whilst recording an album of Zarzuela arias for EMI. The film was directed by Ken MacGregor.

Domingo is the executive producer of the critically acclaimed 1998 Mexican film The Other Conquest, produced by his son Alvaro and directed by Salvador Carrasco, in which Domingo also performs the original aria "Mater Aeterna", composed by Samuel Zyman with lyrics by Carrasco.

In 2008, Domingo provided the voice of the long-haired Chihuahua named Montezuma in Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

[edit] Christmas in Vienna

In 1990, the idea for a Christmas-themed concert, involving the collaboration of Domingo, fellow operatic tenor and friend José Carreras, and pop music legend Diana Ross was first brought up. Vienna was chosen in 1992 to host the event due to its reputation as a capital of music and the particular charm of Austria during Christmas time. The Wiener Symphoniker under the direction of maestro Vjekoslav Šutej provided the orchestral music, and the Gumpoldskirchen Children's Choir provided choral vocals. On 23 December 1992, the first in what would turn out to be a series of Christmas in Vienna concerts was seen worldwide by several hundred million people. Plácido Domingo returned to Vienna for many more Christmas in Vienna concerts, performing with stars and friends of both pop and classical music, including Dionne Warwick, Charles Aznavour, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Michael Bolton, Sarah Brightman, Natalie Cole, Riccardo Cocciante, Patricia Kaas, Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett and others.

Complete repertoire[link]

Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 128 opera roles and as many as 131 roles overall in Italian, French, German, English, Spanish and Russian.^[32] His main repertoire however is Italian (Otello; Cavaradossi in Tosca; Don Carlo; Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut; Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West; Radames in Aida); French (Faust; Werther; Don José in Carmen; Samson in Samson et Dalila); and German (Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre). He continues to add more roles to his repertoire, the latest was the title baritone role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra on 24 October 2009 at Berlin State Opera. Additionally, Domingo has created several new roles in modern operas, such as the title role in Tan Dun's opera The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera. In September 2010, he created the role of the poet Pablo Neruda in the world première of Daniel Catán's opera based on the film Il Postino at Los Angeles Opera.^[33] During the 2011-2012 season at the Met he has created the role of Neptune in the original baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island conducted by William Christie with a libretto by Jeremy Sams.

Awards and honors[link]

Plácido Domingo won his first Grammy Award in 1971 and went on to win eight more, as well as three Latin Grammy awards. A Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera and the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, he has received other major awards that include an Honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; Austria's Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst; France's Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur; Mexico's Orden del Águila Azteca; Spain's Premio Príncipe de Asturias; the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom; and most recently a Medal of Honour from Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman.^[34] In 2012, Domingo was voted into Gramophone's first Hall of Fame.^[35]

Writings[link]

• A new book by Domingo, The Joy of Opera, will be published by W. W. Norton & Company in year 2009^[36][37]

Humanitarian works and initiatives[link]

• In June 2010 Domingo became President of Europa Nostra, the Voice of Cultural Heritage in Europe

• On 4 March 2006, Domingo sang at the Gala Benefit Concert, "A Night For New Orleans" at the New Orleans Arena to help rebuilding the city after it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. At the gala, he made a statement: "If music be the food of love", then "MUSIC IS THE VOICE OF HOPE!" .^[38][39] On 23 March 2008, the New Orleans City Council named the city theatre's stage in the Mahalia Jackson Theatre in Louis Armstrong Park, the "Plácido Domingo stage" as the honour for his contribution at the Gala Benefits Concert. The Gala collected $700,000 for the city recovery fund.^[40]

• In 1986, he performed at benefit concerts to raise funds for the victims of 1985 Mexico City earthquake and released an album of one of the events. On 21 August 2007, as recognition to his support to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims as well as his artistic works, a statue in his honor, made in Mexico City from keys donated by the people, was unveiled. The statue is the work of Alejandra Zúñiga, is two meters tall, weighs about 300 kg (660 lbs) and is part of the "Grandes valores" (Great values) program.^[41][42]

• Domingo supports the Hear the World initiative as an ambassador to raise awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss.^[43]

• In 1993 he founded Operalia, The World Opera Competition, an international opera competition for talented young singers. The winners get the opportunities of being employed in opera ensembles around the world.^[44] Domingo has been instrumental in giving many young artists encouragement, (and special attention) as in 2001, when he invited New York tenor, Daniel Rodriguez to attend the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists program to further develop his operatic skills.

• On 21 December 2003, Domingo made a performance in Cancún to benefit the Ciudad de la Alegria Foundation, the foundation that provides assistance and lodging to people in need, including low-income individuals, orphans, expectant mothers, immigrants, rehabilitated legal offenders, and the terminally ill.^[45]

• On 27 June 2007, Domingo and Katherine Jenkins performed in a charity concert in Athens to raise funds to aid the conflict in Darfur. The concert was organized by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.^[46]

• In 2 October 2007, Domingo joins several other preeminent figures in entertainment, government, the environment and more, as the one of receivers of the BMW Hydrogen 7, designed in the mission to build support of hydrogen as a viable substitute to fossil fuels.^[47]

• On 17 January 2009 he performed with the New Orleans Opera directed by Robert Lyall in a gala reopening of New Orleans' Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts. The master of ceremonies was New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson.^[48]

• In May 2011 he was invited by president Sepp Blatter to help clean up the football governing body, FIFA, which had been accused of taking bribes from countries that wanted to stage the World Cup.^[49]

See also[link]

• List of recordings by Plácido Domingo
• The Three Tenors
• Christmas in Vienna I, II, III, and VI
• Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording
• Category:Plácido Domingo albums
• Plácido Domingo Jr.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Plácido Domingo

• Official website
• Placido Domingo - My Greatest Roles Collection of televised performances from the legendary Spanish tenor
• Plácido Domingo International Operalia Opera Singer Contest
• World Tour Homepage
• Discography on EMI Classics website
• Discography on DG Classics website
• Opera is expensive, singers are cheap, Plácido Domingo about too small Operas, Casting-Singers as Paul Potts and the humility before a great career (Interview by Nahuel Lopez in German, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 17 March 2009)
• Interview with Domingo from The Guardian, 10 July 2005
• Biography at the Kennedy Center
• Guardian article detailing his switch to baritone.
• History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration

Anna Moffo (June 27, 1932 – March 9, 2006) was an Italian-American opera singer and one of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation. She possessed a warm and radiant voice of considerable range and agility, and was an affecting singing-actress of great physical beauty^{[neutrality is disputed]}.

Biography[link]

She was born in Wayne, Pennsylvania to Italian parents, Nicola Moffo (a shoemaker) and his wife Regina Cinti. After graduating from Radnor High School, she turned down an offer to go to Hollywood and went instead to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Eufemia Giannini-Gregory, sister of soprano Dusolina Giannini. In 1954, on a Fulbright Program scholarship, she left for Italy to complete her studies at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome where she was a pupil of Mercedes Llopart and Luigi Ricci. Moffo made her official operatic debut in 1955 in Spoleto as Norina in Don Pasquale.

Anna Moffo (right) with Janet Cox-Rearick Waldman (left) at a cafe in Rome in 1954, when both were Fulbright Fellows in Italy

Shortly after, still virtually unknown and little experienced, she was offered the challenging role of Cio-Cio-San in an Italian television (RAI) production of Madama Butterfly. The telecast aired on January 24, 1956, and made Moffo an overnight sensation throughout Italy. Offers quickly followed and she appeared in two other television productions that same year, as Nannetta in Falstaff and as Amina in La Sonnambula. She appeared as Zerlina in Don Giovanni, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and made her recording debut for EMI as Nannetta (Falstaff) under Herbert von Karajan, and as Musetta in La Bohème with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano and Rolando Panerai. The following year (1957) saw her debut at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, at La Scala in Milan and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Moffo returned to America for her debut there, as Mimì in La Bohème next to Jussi Björling's Rodolfo, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on October 16, 1957. Her Metropolitan Opera of New York debut took place on November 14, 1959 as Violetta in La traviata, a part that would quickly become her signature role. She performed at The Metropolitan Opera for seventeen seasons in roles such as Lucia, Gilda, Adina, Mimi, Liù, Nedda, Pamina, Marguerite, Juliette, Manon, Mélisande, Périchole, the four heroines of Les contes d'Hoffmann, etc.

Moffo was also invited at the San Francisco Opera where she made her debut as Amina on October 1, 1960. During that period she also made several appearances on American television, while enjoying a successful international career singing at most major opera houses around the world (Stockholm, Berlin, Monte Carlo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, etc.). She made her debut at the Royal Opera House in London, as Gilda, in a Franco Zeffirelli production of Rigoletto, in 1964.

In the late 1950s, she recorded Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, opposite Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Giuseppe Taddei, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini, and recitals of Mozart arias and coloratura arias with EMI, and then became an exclusive artist with RCA Victor with whom she recorded most of her best operatic roles.

The grave of Anna Moffo Sarnoff in Kensico Cemetery

Moffo remained particularly popular in Italy and performed there regularly. She hosted a program on Italian television "The Anna Moffo Show" (two series: the first in 1964; the second in 1967) and was voted one of the ten most beautiful women in Italy. She appeared in film versions of La traviata (1968) and Lucia di Lammermoor (1971), both produced (with the Italian TV director Sandro Bolchi) and directed by her first husband Mario Lanfranchi, as well as a few non-operatic films. In the early 1970s, she began appearing on German television and in operetta films such as Die Csárdásfürstin and Die schöne Galathee. She also recorded with Eurodisc the title roles in Carmen and Iphigenie in Aulis, as well as the role of Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel.

Such a heavy workload however led to physical exhaustion and a serious vocal-breakdown in 1974, from which she never fully recovered. Although she was able to resume her career in 1976, she appeared only sporadically. Her last appearance at the Met was during the 1983 Centennial celebrations, where she sang the Sigmund Romberg duet "Will You Remember?" with Robert Merrill. After retiring from singing Moffo remained active in the opera community as a Board Member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild and by hosting several tributes and giving occasional masterclasses.

Moffo was married twice, first to stage and film director Mario Lanfranchi, on December 8, 1957. The couple divorced in 1972. Her second marriage was to RCA executive Robert Sarnoff, on November 14, 1974. Sarnoff died on February 22, 1997.

Anna Moffo spent the last years of her life in New York City, where she died of a stroke at age 73, following a decade-long battle with breast cancer. She is interred with Sarnoff at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.

Selected RCA recordings[link]

• 1957 - Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Anna Moffo, Cesare Valletti, Rosalind Elias, Renato Cesari - Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf.

• 1960 - Anna Moffo - Arias from Faust, La bohème, Dinorah, Carmen, Semiramide, Turandot, Lakmé - Rome Opera Orchestra, Tullio Serafin.

• 1960 - Verdi - La traviata - Anna Moffo, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill - Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Fernando Previtali.

• 1961 - Puccini - La bohème - Anna Moffo, Richard Tucker, Mary Costa, Robert Merrill, Giorgio Tozzi, Philip Maero - Rome Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf.

• 1962 - Pergolesi - La serva padrona - Anna Moffo, Paolo Montarsolo - Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, Franco Ferrara

• 1962 - Recital of Verdi Heroines - The RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra, Franco Ferrara

• 1963 - Verdi - Rigoletto - Robert Merrill, Anna Moffo, Alfredo Kraus, Rosalind Elias, Ezio Flagello - The RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Georg Solti.

• 1963 - Puccini - Manon Lescaut (Highlights) - Anna Moffo, Flaviano Labò, Robert Kerns - The RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus, René Leibowitz.

• 1963 - Massenet - Manon (Highlights) - Anna Moffo, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Robert Kerns - The RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra and Chorus, René Leibowitz.

• 1964 - Canteloube - Songs of the Auvergne: Bailero - Anna Moffo - American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski

• 1964 - Verdi - Luisa Miller - Anna Moffo, Carlo Bergonzi, Shirley Verrett, Cornell MacNeil, Giorgio Tozzi, Ezio Flagello - The RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Fausto Cleva.

• 1965 - Gluck - Orfeo ed Euridice - Shirley Verrett, Anna Moffo, Judith Raskin - Polyphonic Chorus of Rome, I Virtuosi di Roma, Renato Fasano.

• 1965 - Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor - Anna Moffo, Carlo Bergonzi, Mario Sereni, Ezio Flagello - The RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Georges Prêtre.

• 1966 - Puccini - La Rondine - Anna Moffo, Daniele Barioni, Graziella Sciutti, Piero de Palma, Mario Sereni - The RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli.

• 1974 - Massenet - Thais - Anna Moffo, Gabriel Bacquier, José Carreras - Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Philarmonia Orchestra, Julius Rudel.

• 1976 - Montemezzi - L'Amore dei tre re - Anna Moffo, Plácido Domingo, Pablo Elvira, Cesare Siepi - Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Nello Santi.

Sources[link]

• The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia, edited by David Hamilton, (Simon and Schuster, New York 1987). ISBN 0-671-61732-X

• The Metropolitan Opera Guide to recorded Opera, edited by Paul Gruber, (W.W. Norton & Company, 1993). ISBN 0-393-03444-5
• Anna Moffo: una carriera italo-americana", edited by Mario G.Genesi(Orion Editions,Borgonovo V.T.,2002,496 pages.The only existing biography of the "diva" complete with discography, chronology,filmography,with many photos).

External links[link]

• Opera News obituary
• Anna Moffo at Find a Grave
• Anna Moffo – The Internet Movie Database.