As Placido Domingo recovers, tenor Vicente Ombuena steps in

Plácido Domingo, who was hospitalized Monday in Madrid with a pulmonary embolism, will be replaced by tenor Vicente Ombuena in the Teatro Real’s upcoming production of “Il Postino” by Daniel Catan.

Domingo is recovering and has been ordered to rest for three to four weeks, according to his spokeswoman. The renowned tenor, who is also the general director of Los Angeles Opera, had planned to reprise his role as Chilean poet Pablo Neruda in “Il Postino” in Madrid, a role he first performed in 2010 in L.A.

But Tuesday the Teatro Real said that Domingo had withdrawn from all five scheduled performances of the opera, which are set to begin July 17.

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“The Teatro Real wishes to state that it deeply regrets the illness of the great tenor and extends to him its best wishes for an early recovery,” the company said in a statement.

Ombuena, who hails from Valencia, Spain, has performed “Il Postino” at the Teatro Bellas Artes in Mexico and the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, where he alternated with Domingo.

“Il Postino” was first performed by L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2010, with Domingo as Neruda. The Madrid staging is a co-production with L.A. Opera as well as Theater an der Wien in Austria and the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

Ombuena appeared with the L.A. Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall last year in performances of “La Vida Breve” by Manuel de Falla.

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Plácido Domingo is hospitalized in Madrid with pulmonary embolism