Around 10PM yesterday evening I happened on a live concert broadcast in progress on Bulgarian National TV. At first I wasn’t sure what I was watching – an unidentified orchestra and chorus in an unfamiliar hall. The first striking visual landmark was what looked like a pink flamingo nesting in the principal flutist’s hair. It turned out that this special ‘izvunreden’ broadcast was a seventieth birthday tribute to one of the world’s musical wonders, the Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. I caught approximately the second half of the celebration at the Teatro Real (Re-AL) in Madrid, Domingo’s hometown. And there he was, taking it in from his box seat next to the royal hostess, Queen Sofia. As the master of ceremonies explained, with simultaneous Bulgarian translation (‘prevod na efir’), seven of the 20 vocal soloists who were singing in Domingo’s honor were laureates of his “world opera competition” Operalia, an important forum for young operatic talent. Among the Operalia laureates singing for Domingo at the Teatro Real were two from the Balkans.
The Albanian soprano Inva Mula, a prize winner in the first edition of the competition (Paris, 1993), performed a dramatic selection from the verismo opera composer Ruggero Leoncavallo. (Someone just posted it on youtube, here.) Aside from singing leading roles on record and on the stages of the world’s great opera houses, Mula is also the voice behind Diva Plavalaguna in The Fifth Element.
Inva Mula in operatic action with Placido Domingo
Then came Sonya Yoncheva, the 29-year-old soprano from Plovdiv, Bulgaria who won the most recent Operalia (Milan, 2010) together with the Romanian tenor Stefan Pop. (Operalia 2010 was a veritable Balkanalia!) This was the first time I had heard her sing, and she looked and sounded fantastically free in a selection from Lehar’s operetta The Merry Widow. (Just posted on youtube, here.) It turns out that before being discovered in Geneva, she studied in her hometown Music Academy with none other than Nelli Koycheva, a mezzo that I’ve worked with several times in recent years!
Sonya Yoncheva at Operalia 2010
Other notable performances on the concert included German bass Rene Pape singing Prince Philip’s lament from Verdi’s opera Don Carlos (great cello solo there) and Uruguyan baritone (perhaps better known as Russian diva Anna Netrekbo’s husband) Erwin Shrott doing a charmingly overacted – but still vocally impressive – interpretation of Leporello’s ‘Catalogue’ aria from Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Another highlight was the world premiere of Pla-ci-do, a specially-composed orchestral “birthday song” by Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun from Shanghai, who was also in attendance.
Toward the end of the celebration, the flutist’s pink flamingo decided to migrate, and this splash of loud color in a sea of formal black began to shadow the master of ceremonies. When it came out of hiding, it had morphed into a long, high-collared cape worn by another Madrid native, (now-retired) soprano Teresa Berganza, who skillfully avoided tangling herself up in it as she painted a heartfelt portrait of Domingo the man and artist. She ended with a subtle suggestion that everyone would feel much closer to Domingo at this moment if he would appear on stage. The birthday boy took the hint, addressing the audience following a videoclip of him singing with his mother. (Both of his parents had been performers of traditional Spanish zarzuelas - hear Domingo sing one here.) Most singers, he admitted, think about retiring once they hit 50. With an incredible 130+ roles (most available in multiple recorded versions) and 50 years of singing on the world’s stages, he’s still going strong and in magnificent voice. His astonishing versatility (he’s also an accomplished conductor and director of opera companies in LA and Washington, D. C., not to mention his activities – such as Operalia – on behalf of young singers) and genuine artistry have made him one of today’s most loved and respected musicians.
I first became aware of him through his roles in the Franco Zeffirelli film versions of Verdi operas (like this one - Domingo's character is the first to offer a "toast"), at about the same time – circa 1990 – that The Three Tenors (Domingo, Carreras, and Pavarotti) were presiding over soccer stadiums with concerts that, like the Domingo 70th Birthday Gala, made the cut for international TV broadcast. Experience the Three Tenors in action here.
The flutist's flamingo was "louder" than this and nested higher up
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