Placido Domingo is to break new ground when he returns to the Royal Opera House in 2010 to sing both tenor and baritone roles in the same season.
One third of the famous three tenors, Domingo will make his 225th appearance with the Royal Opera in the tenor role of Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano in March 2010, going on to sing the title baritone role of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in June.
Domingo’s performances are among the highlights of the recently announced new season. To ensure the widest possible audience can see them, Simon Boccanegra will be relayed to big screens around the country and, for the first time, be available to view online for one month after the end of the opera’s run.
Commenting on his return to Covent Garden, Domingo said: “I have felt very much at home at Covent Garden ever since I first appeared there in 1971 and I am a great admirer of Tony Pappano and his accomplishments with the Royal Opera. It will be a joy for me to return there next season and present my two most recent roles to the London public.”
In addition to Tamerlano, in which Domingo shares the role of Bajazet with Kurt Streit, the 09/10 season also features new productions of Tristan Und Isolde, Artaxerxes, The Tsarina’s Slippers, The Gambler, Aida and Manon. Revivals for the season include the highly acclaimed Nicholas Hytner-directed Don Carlo, two runs of Carmen, L’Heure Espagnole/Gianni Schichi, Der Rosenkavalier, La Boheme, The Rake’s Progress directed by Robert Lepage, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Cunning Little Vixen, Il Turco In Italia, Powder Her Face, La Traviata, La Fille Du Regiment, Le Nozze Di Figaro and Salome.
The new season opens on 7 September with a concert performance of Donizetti’s Linda Di Chamounix, which has never before been staged by the Royal Opera, and also includes a Christmas production of The Enchanted Pig, the family opera first staged at the Young Vic in 2006.
MA