The rise and fall of Placido Domingo, the Spanish tenor who hit a low note in sex scandal
- One of the Three Tenors, Placido Domingo has been at the forefront of opera for decades
- However, accusations of sexual misconduct have effectively ended his glittering career
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One of the world’s most celebrated and prolific opera singers, Placido Domingo enjoyed a glittering six-decade career until a sexual harassment scandal brought down the curtain on his success.
Dubbed “the king of opera”, Domingo rose to worldwide fame as one of the Three Tenors, his sonorous voice and commanding physical presence enchanting audiences across the globe. The Spanish megastar also made a name for himself conducting and directing, taking on the top artistic positions at some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues.
Although he brushed off the accounts as “inaccurate”, insisting his interactions were “always welcomed and consensual”, the damage was done. Within two months, the charismatic tenor-turned-baritone stepped down from the Los Angeles Opera and withdrew from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, effectively ending his US career.
Born in Madrid on January 21, 1941, Domingo’s parents were both performers of traditional Spanish operetta, known as “zarzuela”. When he was eight, the family moved to Mexico where he studied piano, conducting and eventually singing.
Starting as a baritone, his teachers advised him to move to the tenor range, but he would return to baritone in later years. At 16, he ran away and married a fellow student, angering his parents who were “furious, but even more sad,” he told The New York Times. Although the relationship was short-lived, the couple had a son, Jose.
Domingo took his first part at the age of 18 in the Mexico National Opera. Two years later, he made his debut in a leading operatic role as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata in Monterrey, Mexico.
In 1962, Domingo married Marta, his current wife with whom he had two more sons, Placido and Alvaro. His international career took off in 1965 under conductors such as the Berlin Philharmonic’s Herbert von Karajan and Italian great Claudio Abbado. In 1972, Domingo picked up the baton himself to conduct La Traviata at the New York City Opera.
He would go on to distinguish himself as a conductor across the world, and later moved to the US to serve as director of the Washington National Opera from 1996 to 2001 before moving to the LA Opera.
The trio wowed huge audiences everywhere, from the Eiffel Tower to the pyramids of Egypt, and famously they entertained fans with a concert in Rome on the eve of the football World Cup in 1990.
Even into his late 70s, Domingo has pursued a hectic musical schedule. “If I rest, I rust,” the silver-bearded singer is fond of saying, the phrase prominent on his official website, right next to his concert listings.
But the scandal has put the brakes on his seemingly unstoppable career, with the American Guild of Musical Artists this week saying an internal probe found Domingo had “engaged in inappropriate activity, ranging from flirtation to sexual advances”.
As the culture ministry and other musical establishments sought to distance themselves from the singer, he saved other venues the trouble, withdrawing from all upcoming performances of La Traviata at Madrid’s Teatro Real and pledging to do the same at any other venues “that might have difficulties” with his presence.
