Plácido Domingo

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Performers and composers

José Plácido Domingo Embil KBE (born January 21, 1941) better known as Plácido Domingo, is a world-renowned operatic tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice that possesses a ringing and clear tone throughout its range. He is considered as one of the most talented and hardest working musicians with 129 roles in his repertoire (as of November 2007), more than any other tenor. He is also admired for his operatic acting ability, his musicality and keen musical intellect, and the impressive number and variety of opera roles that he has mastered. In addition to his singing roles, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, as well as serving as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, DC and the Los Angeles Opera in California. His contracts in both Los Angeles and Washington DC have been extended through the 2010–2011 season.

Biography and career

Early years

Plácido Domingo was born near the Barrio de Salamanca section of Madrid, Spain, and moved to Mexico at age 8 with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. Domingo was often asked to perform with his parent’s company when they needed a child role. He studied piano at first privately and later at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City.

In 1957, Domingo made his first professional appearance performing with his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatan. At that time, he was working with his parents’ zarzuela company, taking parts in baritone roles and as an accompanist with other singers. Among his first performances was a minor role in the first Mexican production of My Fair Lady where he was also the assistant conductor and assistant coach. The company made 185 performances which includes a production of Lehar's The Merry Widow where he performed as either Camille or Danilo.

In 1959, Domingo went for audition at the Mexico National Opera for baritone range but was then asked to to sight-read some arias and lines in the tenor range. Finally he was accepted in the National Opera as a tenor comprimario and as a tutor for other singers. He provided backup vocals for Los Black Jeans in 1958, a rock-and-roll band lead by César Costa. He learned piano and conducting, but made his stage debut acting in a minor role in 1959 (May 12) at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara as Pascual in Marina. It was followed by Borsa in Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil and Norman Treigle also in the cast), Padre Confessor (Le dialogue des Carmelites) and others.

In addition to that, he played piano for a ballet company to supplement his income. Domingo also played piano for a program on Mexico cultural television which was newly founded at that time. The program consisted of excerpts from zarzuelas, operettas, operas, and musical comedies. He made few small parts while at the teater such as plays by Federico García Lorca, Luigi Pirandello, and Anton Chekhov.

1960s - 1980s

In 1961, he made his operatic debut as a leading role as Alfredo in La Traviata at Monterrey and later in the same year, his debut in the United States with the Dallas Civic Opera where he played the role as Arturo in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland as the title role. In 1962, he returned to play the role as Edgardo in the same opera with Lily Pons. At the end of 1962, he signed a 6 month contract with Hebrew National Opera in Tel Aviv but later extended the contract and stay for two and a half years, singing 280 performances of 12 different roles.

In June 1965, after finishing his contract with Hebrew National Opera, Domingo went for an audition at the New York City Opera and scheduled to make his New York debut as Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen but his debut came earlier when he was offered to fill in for an ailing tenor at the last minute in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. In June 17, 1965, Domingo made his New York debut as B.F Pinkerton at the New York City Opera. In February 1966, he sang the title role in the US premiere of Ginastera's Don Rodrigo at the New York City Opera, with much acclaim. The performance also marked as the opening of the City Opera's new home at Lincoln Centre.

He official debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York occurred on September 28, 1968 when he substituted Franco Corelli, in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur singing with Renata Tebaldi. Before Adriana Lecouvreur, he had sung in performances by the Metropolitan Opera of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in 1966. Since then, he has opened the season at the Metropolitan Opera 21 times , surpassing the previous record of Enrico Caruso by four. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1967, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1968, at both La Scala and San Francisco Opera in 1969, and at Covent Garden in 1971, and has now sung at practically every other important opera house and festival worldwide. In 1971, he played the role Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca at the Metropolitan opera and continued with the same role for many times. He has played the role more than any other tenor.

Throughout the years, Domingo has also turned his hand to conducting opera (as early as La Traviata on October 7, 1973, at New York City Opera) as well as, occasionally, symphonic orchestras. In 1981 Domingo gained considerable recognition outside of the opera world when he recorded the song "Perhaps Love" as a duet with the late American country/folk music singer John Denver. In 1987, he and Denver joined Julie Andrews for an Emmy Award winning holiday television special, The Sound of Christmas, filmed in Salzburg, Austria.

On September 19, 1985, the biggest earthquake in Mexico's history devastated the whole Mexican capital. Domingo's aunt, uncle, his nephew and his nephew’s young son were killed in the collapse of the Nuevo León apartment block in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Domingo himself labored to rescue survivors. During the next year, he did benefit concerts for the victims and released an album of one of the events.

1990s - present

Throughout 1990s until today, Domingo continued performing in many same and new operas, among them Wagner’s Parsifal and Mozart’s Idomeneo as the title role, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia as Figaro, Wagner’s Die Walküre as Siegmund, Lehár's The Merry Widow as Danilo and Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac as Cyrano. From middle 1990 to 2006 only, Domingo has added 36 new roles to his repertoire.

Giving him even greater international recognition outside of the world of opera, with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, he participated in The Three Tenors concert at the opening of the 1990 World Cup in Rome. The event was originally conceived to raise money for the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation and was later repeated a number of times, including at the three subsequent World Cup finals ( 1994 in Los Angeles, 1998 in Paris, and 2002 in Yokohama). Alone, Domingo again made an appearance at the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin.

He holds a world record for the longest ovation on the operatic stage with 101 curtain calls and 80 minutes non-stop applause after performing Otello, Verdi's operatic version of Shakespeare's Othello, as the Moor of Venice in Vienna on July 30, 1991. In 2006, Domingo recorded an album Italia Ti amo, dedicated himself to Neapolitan and Italian songs, which include Stanislao Gastaldon’s "Musica Prohibita" and the famous "Core N’Grato" by Salvatore Cardillo accompanied by Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Kohn.

In what has been called his 'final career move', Placido Domingo announced on January 25, 2007 that in 2009 he would switch ranges to baritone by taking on one of Verdi's most demanding baritone roles, as the Doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra, in the opera of the same name.

Family

He was born to Plácido Domingo Ferrer ( March 8, 1907 - November 26, 1987) and Pepita Embil (1918 - September 1, 1994) , two Spanish zarzuela stars who nurtured his early musical abilities. Domingo’s father is half Catalan and half Aragonese while his mother is a Basque. His father, Plácido Domingo Ferrer was a violinist performing for opera and zarzuela orchestra. He was a baritone and actively taking roles in zarzuela. However his promising career as a baritone ended after he damaged his voice by singing with a cold. Domingo's mother was an established singer who made her zarzuela debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. She met her husband at age 21 while performing in Federico Moreno Torroba's Sor Navarra. In 1946 Moreno Torroba and Domingo’s parents formed a zarzuela company and travelled frequently to Mexico. His parents later stayed permanently in Mexico and established their own zarzuela troupe, the Domingo-Embil Company. In addition to their son, they also have a daughter, Mari Pepa Sanchez.

At age 16 in 1958, Plácido Domingo married a fellow piano student and his first son, José was born within the year . However, the marriage didn't last long, the couple separated shortly thereafter. In 1962, Plácido Domingo married Marta Ornelas, a lyric soprano whom he met during his conservatory days. In the same year, Marta had been voted "Mexican Singer of the Year" but she gave up her promising career to devote her time to her family. They have two sons, Plácido Jr born in 1965 and Alvaro Maurizio born in 1968.

Recordings

See List of recordings by Plácido Domingo

He has made well over 100 recordings, most of which are full-length operas, often recording the same role more than once. Among these recordings is a boxed set of every tenor aria Verdi ever wrote, including several rarely-performed versions, in different languages from the original operas, which Verdi wrote for specific performances.

In August 2005, EMI Classics released a New studio recording of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in which Domingo sings the title role of Tristan. A review of this recording, headlined "Vocal perfections", that appeared in the August 8, 2005 issue of The Economist begins with the word "Monumental" and ends with the words, "a musical lyricism and a sexual passion that make the cost and the effort entirely worthwhile". It characterized his July 2005 performance of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden as "unforgettable" and "luminous". The review also remarks that Domingo is still taking on roles that he has not previously performed.

New recordings that have been released in the first half of 2006 include studio recordings of Puccini's Edgar, Isaac Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez, as well as a selection of Italian and Neapolitan songs, titled Italia ti amo (all three with Deutsche Grammophon). Amongst many television appearance in many countries over the years (a large number for charitable purposes), Domingo appeared as the star act in the New Orleans Opera Association's A Night For New Orleans with Frederica von Stade and Elizabeth Futral, in March 2006. The concert was to raise funds for the rebuilding of the city.

Appearances on film and television

See List of Domingo's opera recorded performances

Domingo has appeared in numerous opera films, among them are Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's Madama Butterfly, Francesco Rosi's Carmen ( Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording), Gianfranco de Bosio's Tosca with Raina Kabaivanska, Brian Large's Tosca with Catherine Malfitano ( Emmy Award), Franco Zeffirelli's Otello, Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci, and La Traviata (with Teresa Stratas, which received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording).

He has also appeared on television in the 1978 La Scala production of Puccini's Manon Lescaut which marked the Scala debut of Hungarian soprano Sylvia Sass, as well in zarzuela evenings, and Live at the Met telecasts and broadcasts. In 2007, Domingo had a cameo in " The Homer of Seville", an episode of The Simpsons in which revolves around Homer Simpson becoming an opera singer. In his cameo, Domingo sang briefly.

Complete repertoire

Perhaps the most versatile of all living tenors, Domingo has sung 125 roles on stage (and as many as 129 roles when also counting studio recorded roles), ranging from Mozart to Ginastera. His main repertoire however is Italian ( Otello, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Don Carlo, Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut, Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West , Radames in Aida), French ( Faust, Werther, Don José in Carmen, Samson in Samson et Dalila), and German ( Lohengrin, Parsifal, and Siegmund in Die Walküre). He continues to add more operas to his repertoire, the latest was Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride in November 2007 at the Metropolitan Opera.

A new role will be added into his repertoire, Handel's Tamerlano as "Bajazet" on March 3, 2008 at Teatro Real. By March 3, 2008, his total repertoire will be 130 in which 126 roles were sung on stage and 4 roles in the recording studio.

Below is his complete repertoire from 1959 until 2008. The list is sorted by chronological order; year, opera title, composer, role, debut date and city or location.

• 1959

1. Rigoletto - Verdi; "Borsa"; 23-09-1959; Mexico City
2. Dialogues des Carmélites - Poulenc; "Chaplain"; 21-10-1959; Mexico City

• 1960

3. The Merry Widow - Franz Lehár; "Danilo/Camille"; 1960; Mexico City
4. Turandot - Puccini; "Altoum"; 11-09-1960; Monterrey
5. Turandot - Puccini; "Pang"; 01-10-1960; Monterrey
6. Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti; "Normanno" ; 05-10-1960; Monterrey
7. La traviata - Verdi; "Gastone"; 08-10-1960; Monterrey
8. Carmen - Bizet; "Remendado" ; 15-10-1960; Monterrey
9. Otello - Verdi; "Cassio"; 17-10-1960; Monterrey

• 1961

10. La traviata - Verdi; "Alfredo" ; 19-05-1961; Monterrey
11. El Ultimo sueno - Vázquez; "Enrique"; 28-05-1961; Mexico City
12. Amelia goes to the ball - Menotti; "Lover"; 28.-06-1961; Mexico City
13. Fedora - Giordano; "Désire", "Baron Rouvel"; 02-07-1961; Mexico City
14. Boris Godunov - Mussorgsky; "Simpleton", "Shuisky" ; 08-08-1961; Mexico City
15. Andrea Chenier - Giordano; "Abbé", "Incredibile" ; 15-08-1961; Mexico City
16. Tosca - Puccini; "Spoletta"; 21-08-1961; Mexico City
17. Madama Butterfly - Puccini; "Goro"; 15-09-1961; Mexico City
18. Tosca - Puccini; "Cavaradossi"; 30-09-1961 Mexico City

• 1962

19. La bohème - Puccini; "Rodolfo" ; 04-03-1962; Mexico City
20. Cosi fan tutte - Mozart; "Ferrando"; 10-05-1962; Mexico City
21. Adriana Lecouvreur - Cilea; "Maurizio"; 17-05-1962; Mexico City
22. Trittico francescano - Refice; 01-10-1962; Guadalajara
23. Madama Butterfly - Puccini; "Pinkerton" ; 07-10-1962; Torreón
24. Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti; "Edgardo" ; 26-11-1962; Fort Worth

• 1963

25. Carmen - Bizet; "Don José" ; 25-06-1963; Tel Aviv
26. Don Giovanni - Mozart; "Don Ottavio"; 21-09-1963; Tel Aviv
27. Faust - Gounod; "Faust"; 03-12-1963; Tel Aviv

• 1964

28. Les Pêcheurs de Perles - Bizet; "Nadir" ; 21-01-1964; Tel Aviv
29. Eugene Onegin - Tchaikovsky; "Lenski" ; 05-09-1964; Tel Aviv

• 1965

30. Cavalleria Rusticana - Mascagni; "Turiddu" ; 21-01-1965; Tel Aviv
31. Samson et Dalila - Saint-Saens; "Samson" ; 30-07-1965; Chautauqua
32. Les Contes d'Hoffmann - Offenbach; "Hoffmann" ; 07-09-1965; Mexico City

• 1966

33. Carlota, Severino & La Mulata de Córdoba - "Sandi", "Moreno", "Moncayo" (3 tenor roles); 01-01-1966; Barcelona
34. Don Rodrigo - Ginastera; "Don Rodrigo" ; 22-02-1966; New York
35. Andrea Chénier - Giordano; "Andrea Chénier"  ; 03-03-1966; New Orleans
36. Hippolyte et Aricie - Rameau; "Hippolyte" ; 06-04-1966; Boston
37. Pagliacci - Leoncavallo; "Canio" ; 09-08-1966; New York
38. Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Rossini; "Almaviva"; 16-09-1966; Guadalajara
39. Anna Bolena - Donizetti; "Lord Percy" 15-11-1966; New York

• 1967

40. Il tabarro - Puccini; "Luigi" ; 08-03-1967; New York
41. Aida - Verdi; "Radames" ; 11-05-1967; Hamburg
42. Don Carlo - Verdi; "Don Carlo"  ; 19-05-1967; Vienna
43. Un ballo in maschera - Verdi; "Riccardo" ; 31-05-1967; Berlin

• 1968

44. Lohengrin - Wagner; "Lohengrin" ; 14-01-1968; Hamburg
45. Manon Lescaut - Puccini; "Des Grieux" ; 15-02-1968; Hartford
46. Il trovatore - Verdi; "Manrico" ; 14-03-1968; New Orleans

• 1969

47. Rigoletto - Verdi; "Il Duca"; 02-01-1969; Hamburg
48. La forza del destino - Verdi; "Don Alvaro"; 18-01-1969; Hamburg
49. Manon - Massenet; "Des Grieux"; 20-02-1969; New York
50. Turandot - Puccini; "Calaf"; 16-07-1969; Verona
51. Ernani - Verdi; "Ernani" ; 07-12-1969; Milano

• 1970

52. Oberon - Weber; "Hüon"; 03-1970; Studio
53. La Gioconda - Ponchielli; "Enzo" ; 14-05-1970; Madrid
54. Roberto Devereux - Donizetti; "Devereux" ; 15-10-1970; New York

• 1971

55. Der Rosenkavalier - Strauss, R.; Italian Singer; 03-1971; Studio
56. I Lombardi alla prima crociata - Verdi; "Oronte"; 07-1971; Studio
57. Luisa Miller - Verdi; "Rodolfo" ; 04-11-1971; New York

• 1972

58. Giovanna d'Arco - Verdi; "Carlo VII"; 08-1972; Studio
59. Los Claveles - Serrano; "Fernando"; 1972; Studio
60. La Dolorosa - Serrano; "Rafael"; 1972, Studio

• 1973

61. Francesca da Rimini - Riccardo Zandonai; "Paolo" ; 22-03-1973; New York
62. L'Africaine - Meyerbeer; "Vasco da Gama"; 03-11-1973; San Francisco

• 1974

63. I Vespri Siciliani - Verdi; "Arrigo"; 09-04-1974; Paris
64. Mefistofele - Boito; "Faust"; 07-1974; Studio
65. Roméo et Juliette - Gounod; "Roméo"; 28-09-1974; New York
66. La Fanciulla del West - Puccini; "Dick Johnson" 26-11-1974; Turin

• 1975

67. La Navarraise - Massenet: "Araquil"; 1975; Studio
68. Otello - Verdi; "Otello" ; 28-09-1975; Hamburg

• 1976

69. Gianni Schicchi - Puccini; "Rinuccio"; 1976; Studio
70. Louise - Charpentier; "Julien"; 1976; Studio
71. Macbeth - Verdi; "Macduff" ; 1976; Studio
72. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Wagner; "Walther von Stolzing"; 03-1976 Studio
73. Le Cid - Massenet; "Don Rodrigue" ; 08-03-1976; New York
74. L'amore dei tre re - Italo Montemezzi; "Avito"; 07-1976; Studio

• 1977

75. L'Elisir d'Amore - Donizetti; "Nemorino"; 1977; Studio
76. Fedora - Giordano; "Loris" ; 15-02-1977; Barcelona
77. Werther - Massenet; "Werther" ; 18-12-1977; Munich

• 1978

78. La Damnation de Faust - Berlioz; "Faust"; 01-1978; Studio

• 1979

79. Le villi - Puccini; "Roberto"; 06-1979; Studio
80. Requiem - Berlioz; Tenor part; 06-1979; Studio
81. Béatrice et Bénédict - Berlioz; "Bénédict"; 07-1979; Studio
82. Il Giuramento - Mercadante; "Viscardo" ; 09-09-1979; Vienna

• 1980

83. El Poeta - Torroba; "José de Espronceda"; 19-06-1980; Madrid

• 1981

84. Norma - Bellini; "Pollione"; 21-09-1981; New York

• 1982

85. La rondine - Puccini; "Ruggero"; 1982; Studio
86. Nabucco - Verdi; "Ismaele" ; 05-1982; Studio
87. Les Troyens - Berlioz; "Enée" ; 26-09-1983; New York

• 1986

88. Die Fledermaus - Strauss, J.; "Alfred" ; 04-1986; Studio
89. Goya - Menotti; "Goya" ; 15-11-1986; Washington

• 1988

90. Iris - Mascagni; "Osaka"; 1988; Studio
91. Tannhäuser - Wagner; "Tannhäuser"; 04-1988; Studio

• 1989

92. Die Frau ohne Schatten - Strauss, R.; "Der Kaiser"; 03-1989; Studio

• 1990

93. Man of La Mancha - Leigh; "Don Quixote"; 06-1990; Studio

• 1991

94. Der fliegende Holländer - Wagner; "Erik"; 02-1991; Studio
95. Parsifal - Wagner; "Parsifal" ; 14-03-1991; New York

• 1992

96. Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Rossini; "Figaro"; 02-1992; Studio
97. El Gato Montés - Penella; "Rafaele Ruiz" ; 07-08-1992; Seville
98. Die Walküre - Wagner; "Siegmund" ; 19-12-1992; Vienna

• 1993

99. Stiffelio - Verdi; "Stiffelio" ; 21-10-1993; New York

• 1994

100. Dona Francisquita - Vives; "Fernando"; 02-1994; Studio
101. La Verbena de la Paloma - Tomás Bretón; "Julian"; 04-1994; Studio
102. Il Guarany - Carlos Gomes; "Pery" ; 05-06-1994; Bonn
103. Idomeneo - Mozart; "Idomeneo" ; 01-10-1994; New York
104. Hérodiade - Massenet; "Jean" ; 08.-11-1994; San Francisco
105. Luisa Fernanda - Torroba; "Javier" ; 1995; Studio
106. Simon Boccanegra (1881 version) Gabriele - Verdi; "Adorno" ; 19-01-1995; New York

• 1996

107. La Tabernera del Puerto - Pablo Sorozábal; "Leandro"; 1996; Studio

• 1997

108. Simon Boccanegra (1857 version) Gabriele - Verdi; "Adorno" ; 28-06-1997; London
109. Divinas Palabras - Garcia Abril; "Lucero"; 18-10-1997; Madrid

• 1998

110. Le prophète - Meyerbeer; "Jean van der Leyden" ; 21-05-1998; Vienna
111. Faust Symphony - Liszt; Tenor part; 06-1998; Studio
112. La Dolores - Tomás Bretón; "Lázaro"; 07-1998; Studio

• 1999

113. Das Lied von der Erde - Gustav Mahler; Tenor part; 02-1999; Studio
114. Misa Tango - Bacalov; Tenor part; 02-1999; Studio
115. Pique Dame - Tschaikowsky; "Hermann" ; 18-03-1999; New York
116. Fidelio - Beethoven; "Florestan"; 06-1999; Studio
117. Merlin - Albéniz; "King Arthur"; 07-1999; Studio
118. Margarita la Tornera - Chapí; "Don Juan de Alarcón"; 11-12-1999; Madrid

• 2000

119. La Gran Via - Chueca, Valverde; "Caballero de Gracía"; 01-2000; Studio
120. The Merry Widow - Franz Lehár; "Danilo"; 17-02-2000; New York
121. La battaglia di Legnano - Verdi; "Arrigo"; 30-06-2000; London

• 2001

122. La Revoltosa - Chapí; "Felipe"; 01-2001; Studio

• 2002

123. Sly - Wolf-Ferrari; "Christopher Sly"; 01-04-2002; New York

• 2003

124. Luisa Fernanda - Torroba; "Vidal Hernando"; 18-06-2003; Milan
125. Nicholas and Alexandra - Deborah Drattell; "Rasputin"; 14-09-2003; Los Angeles

• 2004

126. Tristan und Isolde - Wagner; "Tristan"; 12-2004; Studio

• 2005

127. Cyrano de Bergerac - Franco Alfano; "Cyrano"; 13-05-2005; New York

• 2006

128. The First Emperor - Tan Dun; "Emperor Qin"; 21-12-2006; New York

• 2007

129. Iphigénie en Tauride - Gluck; "Oreste"; 27-11-2007; New York

• 2008

130. Tamerlano - Handel; "Bajazet"; (Scheduled to be performed on 26-03-2008 at Teatro Real )

Awards and honours

Domingo has received numerous awards and honours, including:

Grammy Award

• 1971 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Verdi: Aida
• 1974 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for G. Puccini: La Bohème
• 1983 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Verdi: La Traviata
• 1984 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Bizet: Carmen
• 1984 - Best Latin Pop Performance for Always in my Heart (Siempre en mi corazon)
• 1988 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Wagner: Lohengrin
• 1990 - Best Classical Vocal Performance for Carreras-Domingo-Pavarotti in Concert
• 1992 - Principal Soloist for Best Opera Recording for Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
• 2000 - Best Mexican-American Performance for 100 years of Mariachi

Latin Grammy Award

• 2000 - Best Classical Album for T. Breton: La Dolores
• 2001 - Best Classical Album for I. Albéniz: Merlin

Government and organization honours

France

• Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur
• Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
• Commandeur Arts et Lettres
• Grande Medaille de la Ville de Paris
• Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur – March 2002

Spain

• Isabel la Católica
• Premio Prinicipe de Asturias de las Artes - 1991
• Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil – September 2002

USA

• Kennedy Center Honours – December 2000
• The presidential Medal of Freedom – July 2002

Austria

• Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1. Klasse
• Kammersänger und Ehrenmitglied der Wiener Staatsoper
• Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um das Land Wien – 2007

Other countries

• Aguila Azteca (Mexico)
• Capo dell’Ordine "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" Grande Ufficiale (Italy)
• Grã Cruz da Ordem do Infante d’Henrique (Portugal)
• Cavalliere di Malta (Malta)
• Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) (Great Britain) – October 2002
• Order of the Cedars (Lebanon) - 2004

NPO

• Unicef Socio de Honour (UNICEF)

Honorary Doctorate

• Royal Northern College of Music, England (1982)
• Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, USA (1982)
• Oklahoma City University, USA (1984)
• Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain (1989)
• New York University, USA (1990)
• Georgetown University, USA (1992)
• Washington College of Chestertown, USA (2000)
• Anáhuac University, Mexico (2001)
• Chopin Music Academy, Poland (2003)
• Oxford University, England (2003)

Other entertainment awards and appreciation

• A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – 1993 (Location: Domingo, Placido LT 7000 Hollywood Blvd)
• Sociedad General de Autores Española (Best Lyric Singer of the Year 1997) for his role in the world premiere of "Divinas Palabras" - 1997
• Association of Argentinian Music Critics (Best Male Singer in 1997) for “Samson and Dalila" - 1997
• Baltika Grand Prix for Outstanding Achievement - June 1998
• American Latina Media Arts (ALMA) Awards (Outstanding Performances By An Individual or Act in A Variety) - 1998
• Hispanic Heritage Award for Arts - September 1999
• Great Prize of the International Music Press - September 2000
• The Ella Award - 2002
• Classical BRIT Awards - 2006 (Critics' Award for Tristan and Isolde and Lifetime Achievement Award)

Humanitarian works and initiatives

In 1986, he performed at benefit concerts to raise funds for the victims of 1985 Mexico City earthquake and released an album of one of the events. On August 21, 2007, as recognition to his support to 1985 Mexico City earthquake victims as well as his artistic works, a statue in his honour, made in Mexico City from keys donated by the people, was unveiled. The statue is the work of Alejandra Zúñiga, is two meters tall, weighs about 300 kg (660 lbs) and is part of the "Grandes valores" (Great values) program.

Domingo supports the Hear the World initiative as an ambassador to raise awareness for the topic of hearing and hearing loss .

In 1993 he founded Operalia, an international opera competition for talented young singers. The winners get the opportunities of being employed in opera ensembles around the world . Domingo has been instrumental in giving many young artists encouragement, (and special attention) as in 2001, when he invited New York tenor, Daniel Rodriguez to attend the Vilar/Domingo Young Artists program to further develop his operatic skills.

On December 21, 2003, Domingo made a performance in Cancun to benefit the Ciudad de la Alegria Foundation, the foundation that provides assistance and lodging to people in need, including low-income individuals, orphans, expectant mothers, immigrants, rehabilitated legal offenders, and the terminally ill.

On March 4, 2006, Domingo sang at the Gala Benefit Concert, "A Night For New Orleans" at the New Orleans Arena to help rebuilding the city after the it was hit by Hurricane Katrina.

On June 27, 2007, Domingo and Katherine Jenkins performed in a charity concert in Athens to raise funds to aid the conflict in Darfur. The concert was organized by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders.

In October 2007, Domingo joins several other preeminent figures in entertainment, government, the environment and more, as the one of receivers of the BMW Hydrogen 7, designed in the mission to build support of hydrogen as a viable substitute to fossil fuels.