His Majesty

In St. Petersburg, Placido Domingo, “King of the Opera,”, the legendary person, whose singing career, starting at 16, has been successfully continuing for 60 years now, in St. Petersburg. Domingo arrived for three days to sing a title party in Simon Bokkanera and to carry out a “travate”. Since April, he had already plundered Bokkanrogra in New York (Met), Barcelona (Liseu) and Berlin (Statatsoper). The next point of the route is La Scala, Milan. The performance at the Mariinsky Theater turned out to be triumphant.

A new stage in the singer’s life began with the Boccannegra, in fact, a new stage began: this was the first party that he sang, moving from tenor to a baritone repertoire. The great artist, one of the "three tenors", over the years decided on a radical turn in his career: his range went down below, his voice thickened. Since 2009, Domingo had sang a dozen baritone parties with a dozen, mainly remaining within the Verdievsky repertoire: Nabukko, Rodrigo, McBet, Georges Germon, Count Di Luna. This summer, he will sing the Atanael party in Thais at the Salzburg festival.

Domingo began to conduct in the mid-90s. Over the years, it turns out to be better and better for him: skill is growing, this is already a full -fledged second profession. Its manual technique has become much more sophisticated. It was any way to hear and observe how softly, delicately, intelligently, without the slightest pressure, he led the Mariinsky Theater orchestra in the “traviat”. How sensitively he responded to the phrasing of the soloists, predicting their desires and intentions, tactfully directing - but in no case updating - execution. In Domingo's manner, not a grain of conducting dictatorship, the imperative “I want”, imperceptibly. He understands the needs and complexity of those who are on stage - for he himself is in their place. And to whom, if not him, all possible stumbling stones found on the vocal ways of soloists are known.

But the point is not only this. The secret of his success in any field, in any field of activity-whether it is the international competition “Operate”, or the leadership of the Los Angeles opera, or the chairmanship of the International Soundwriting Industry Federation ( IFPI ) -in the unique properties of his personality. Placido Domingo is an open, sincere, benevolent, kind person. Here he is - a simple, but very important fact for understanding his personality. It is rare when you meet such qualities in who is used to being at the top of the artistic Olympus: the air at such a height is too rare, the human qualities there usually freeze or disappear.

However, Domingo, it seems, immunity, the struggle for a place under the sun did not affect him in any way. And, perhaps, that is why he succeeds so easily: transitions from one genre to another, from one role to another, a change in the profession, a change of voice, and the leadership of cultural projects. At the age of 75, he still retains curiosity for life, studies, masters a new repertoire, constantly tries himself in new classes-but never wants to prove anything to anyone. The free spirit of freedom lives in it, its actions are driven by an indefatigable thirst for self -improvement.

It was this thirst that inspired him to master a completely new baroque repertoire. In 2012, he was not afraid of comparison with the fresh votes of the young singers (among which there were virtuoso such as the Counterpherne of Bedzhun Met and Soprano Julia Lezhnev) and sang the most difficult bayazet in the concert performance of Handel. Domingo is going to repeat this experience in the fall of 2017 on the stage of La Scala.

With St. Petersburg, Domingo is associated for many years of infrequent, but constant cooperation. For the first time he flew here in the 90s, sang Othello in a performance-sales with Covent Garden. In the zero, he returned to the Mariinsky stage: he sang Sigmund, Parsifal and punctured Aida. His wife Marta, with whom they are inseparable, was an opera singer, but left the stage, devoting herself to her husband and children. Later, she began to engage in opera directing and put Hoffmann's Tales in the Mariinsky Theater. In the performance, by the way, Anna Netrebko sang Anthony - then he had just begun his career as a lyrical soprano. The last time Domingo was heard here a few years ago: then he excellently performed the Party of Nabukko in Verdi’s opera of the same name.

Now in the St. Petersburg Bokkanera, Domingo's voice sounded vividly, young, with a good filling. And with that measure of sincerity and feelings that always bribes in his performance. He moved somewhat difficult. Which, however, did not prevent him from taking a girl on the stage on the stage - according to the plot of the opera, his dead lover. He took it out, carefully laid on the stage, knelt beside her. Although the girl was like a feather, not every singer would have decided on this. The ovations that awarded Domingo did not silent a good 15 minutes.

And the "stars of white nights", meanwhile, expect visits to other opera stars. Anna Netrebko will sing Elsa in Loellerin - a party with which she had just triumphantly debuted in the Wagnerian repertoire on the stage of the Dresden Opera of Zemper . Ildar Abdrazakov will appear in the Party of Attila in the opera of the same name Verdi. Olga Peretyatko has just fulfilled the Violetta Valerie party in the performance, which Domindo has been properled, and will sing to Marfa in the concert performance of the “royal bride” in the company of Olga Borodina and Alexei Markov. Maria Gulegina spins in Attila and Tosk, and the German soprano Anya Kampe - in scenes from Siegfried. This year, the organizers of the festival relied on the invited singers - and, judging by the enthusiastic reaction of the auditorium, were not mistaken in the calculations.