Placido Domingo’s 40th Anniversary Gala

Placido Domingo ducks into his dressing room before the April 18 concert celebrating the passage of four decades since he first sang the title role in Alberto Ginastera’s “Don Rodrigo” with the New York City Opera in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Even to overhear Domingo practicing in his dressing room can be a notable experience, considering that he placed first among the greatest 20 tenors of all time in a survey that appears in the April issue of BBC Music Magazine.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Domingo greets soprano Patricia Racette before the concert, at which they shared a program made up mostly of operatic favorites.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The 67-year-old Domingo warms up some more in the presence of a few musicians, who would be led in the concert by conductor James Conlon.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Domingo, who is also general director of L.A. Opera, goes over the music with conductor James Conlon.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

On an evening when the red carpet was rolled out for Hollywood stars, Domingo asserts control on stage as Conlon conducts. Times Music Critic Mark Swed notes that, nearing 70, the tenor still has more voice than would seem reasonable at his age.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Tenor Domingo connects with the audience in a program that opened with “O, souverain,” from Massenet’s “Le Cid” and continued with Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana,” Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades” and Torroba’s “Maravilla.”  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Soprano Patricia Racette, who contributed arias from Boito’s “Mefistofele” and Puccini’s “Tosca” and Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” is embraced by Domingo during the singing.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Racette receives a gesture of affection from Domingo, with whom she performed an “Otello” duet and “Tonight” from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story.”  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Domingo, who made his Los Angeles debut in 1967, scans music backstage.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The passion is still there for Domingo, who launched his international career in 1966 in the U.S. premiere of Ginastera’s “Don Rodrigo” in New York.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

The singer shrugs jokingly as he winds up at the conductor’s stand during the April 18 performance.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Conductor Conlon, left, soprano Racette and Domingo share applause. According to Times critic Swed, the concert was effective at pop material, such as Racette’s rendition of “Losing My Mind” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” and Domingo’s crowd-pleasing performance of “Granada,” an encore.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Concertmaster Lisa Sutton escorts Domingo from the stage at concert’s end.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Gabriella Sandoval congratulates Domingo at a party on the Music Center plaza after the concert.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)