Sorry, couldn't resist that headline....
On Tuesday evening the lovely Jamie posted the comment
The new issue of opera has confirmed that Domingo will sing the TITLE ROLE in Simon Boccanegra at Covent Garden in 2009/10 season!and my response was Oh Jamie, I am so so so so so so so so happy!!!!!!!!
So, you know, I was pretty chuffed to find confirmation of something that's been strongly rumoured for a couple of years. But I didn't think it was big news.
Domingo to take on baritone role
A tenor no more: Domingo to make switch to baritone
A New Low? Plácido Domingo to Sing Simon Boccanegra
Domingo jumps from the high C's into deeper waters
Domingo to become a baritone (his first tenor role was Borsa in 1959; Alfredo happened in 1961).
Clip from Radio 4's Today programme and Channel 4 News, which suggests that this will happen at New York's Metropolitan Opera, when all the other media sources say Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden, La Scala and the Royal Opera House.
And here's me thinking he's decided to turn into a Baroque specialist, what with Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride, Bajazet in Tamerlano and Giove in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria. Although, I wonder how many other singers have in their repertoire over the next couple of years roles from each of the 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Or as one of those articles above says
As opera singers grow older, some of them even retire. That is clearly not an option for the evergreen tenor Plácido Domingo, who has sung an astonishing 123* roles in his 48-year career.
Update: Whats the story with . . . Placido Domingo? - this is so riddled with errors it's barely worth bothering with except that it made me realise that he's going for the 100 Stage Roles.
* approximately
