Placido Domingo’s Schedule Sets the Tone

A week after his 2,200th performance opened the Metropolitan Opera’s fall season, Placido Domingo has no intention of cutting back from the hectic schedule for which he is famous.

“I do rest a lot more than people think,” the tenor said, squeezing in an interview during a short break at a recording studio. “I continue at the right pace; I pace myself well.”

The right pace for Domingo would kill many a lesser mortal. He averages 90 performances a year, in addition to recording albums (he has more than 70) and serving as an artistic consultant to the Los Angeles Opera and the 1992 Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain.

Even as he talked, aides interrupted him with questions, while photographers who had planned on just a few minutes more to shoot his picture for an album cover bemoaned the loss of time.

“Tell him I have my hands full now,” the singer told an assistant who asked if he would speak the next day with ABC-TV anchorman Peter Jennings.

“When you have interviews, or extra work, ahh,” Domingo shrugged, somewhat sheepishly. “The singing is not so hard as all the extra things that come along.”

But ask him how he plays Rodolfo in “La Boheme,” or what it’s like making his first album with Itzhak Perlman, or about his role as artistic consultant for Expo 92 in Seville. Then the strain of being one of opera’s most prolific stars melts away in the sheer joy of talking about opera, music and Domingo’s native Spain.

The opening night performance was his 120th portrayal of Rodolfo, the brash young poet. Still, the tenor says he enjoys the role, relishing its blend of comedy and tragedy, and the chance to don Rodolfo’s bohemian mantle of youth.

“It’s very good to have an element of comedy,” he says, noting that most roles for his vocal range lean toward tragedy.

The atmosphere at the recording studio, where Domingo joked as he and Perlman posed for pictures, was certainly the right one. The as-yet unnamed album, under the Angel/EMI label, will feature pieces made famous by the Irish tenor John McCormack.

Domingo says some of his finest work, however, has come from behind the floodlights, instead of in front of them.

“We have five years of great results. Opera is happening in Los Angeles,” he declared, not without pride. “We do all kinds of repertoire. We have created a fantastic company that didn’t exist five years ago.”

At Expo ‘92, one of the main cultural highlights will be the production of every opera set in Seville--seven total, including “Carmen,” “The Marriage of Figaro,” “The Barber of Seville” and “Don Giovanni.”

“Our plans are quite spectacular,” he said, reeling off the names of opera companies scheduled to perform in Seville: the Met, Milan, Florence, Dresden, Stockholm, Vienna, maybe Los Angeles or Paris.

He doesn’t stop there. Symphony orchestras are expected from London, Vienna, Leningrad, Israel and Pittsburgh, among other places.

The Maestranza Theater, where many of the productions will be held, is under construction but plans to open in the spring, a year before Expo ’92 begins. Domingo, a native of Madrid, says he will perform in Seville, but waved off further questions with a smile.

The Spanish tenor, well aware of frailties of the human body, guards his instrument by not talking at all on the day of a performance. He bends the rule somewhat on recording days.

“Recording, you can redo. You never do things the first time,” he said. “In the theater no one is going to help you. You have to do it from beginning to end.”

But the prospect of turning 50 in January doesn’t faze him in the least. “It’s wonderful to arrive at 50. I am working with more energy than ever.”