Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Domingo, Plácido
(1941- )
Spanish singer
Born in M
ADRID
, the son of well-known
Z
ARZUELA
(light opera) performers, Domingo
moved with them to Mexico City at the age
of eight and grew up in a musical ambience.
He originally studied piano and conducting
at Mexico's National Conservatory of Music
but committed himself to an operatic career
in his early 20s, appearing in Mexico, the
United States (Dallas), and Israel. He made
his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in
New York City in 1968 and at Milan's La
Scala in the following year. During the next
few decades his combination of vocal and
dramatic skills made him a successful per-
former throughout the opera world. His
memoir,
My First Forty Years,
published in
1983, in retrospect seems merely a prelimi-
nary sketch for an increasingly active and
complex career that showed no sign of end-
ing as he entered his 60s. In addition to
mastering more than 100 operatic roles and
becoming acknowledged as the most popu-
lar and admired tenor of his time, Domingo
also appeared in cinematic and television
productions based on major operas,
recorded both classical and general songs,
and did concert tours with his countryman
José Carreras and the Italian star Luciano
Pavarotti as the internationally applauded
Three Tenors. Domingo, a world traveler,
was to be found at one moment aiding in
the recovery of his old hometown, Mexico
City, after the 1985 earthquake and at
another presiding as artistic director over
the 1992 exposition in S
EVILLE
. He has
served as musical director of opera compa-
nies in B
ARCELONA
, Washington, D.C., and
Los Angeles, among other cities. Domingo
has also returned to an early interest in
conducting, periodically leading major
route to Asia, took part in the series of voy-
ages that gradually charted a course down
the coast of West Africa. In 1481 he cap-
tained a ship that reached the Gold Coast
(present-day Ghana), and by 1486 the Por-
tuguese government was ready to push to
new lengths in its search for proof that Afri-
ca's southern tip could be rounded, opening
the way into the Indian Ocean. Dias was
given command of a squadron charged with
this mission. Early in 1488 Dias was able to
verify that he had in fact turned the tip of
the continent and was sailing northward.
As his instructions were to confirm the pos-
sibility of entering the Indian Ocean rather
than to sail on to India, he headed home.
Reaching L
ISBON
in December 1488 after
exploring nearly 1,300 miles of previously
unseen African coast, he concluded his
report to the king with a description of the
perilous waters near Africa's southern end
by stating that he had given it the name of
Cabo Tormentoso
(Cape of Storms). King
M
ANUEL
I, not wishing to frighten off future
travelers, renamed it
Cabo da Bõa Esperança
(Cape of Good Hope).
After a period of less dramatic activities
Dias was assigned to accompany P
EDRO
Á
LVA R E S
C
ABRAL
on a major expedition to
extend Portuguese trade in the Far East. In
the course of the voyage, apparently driven
by contrary winds across the Atlantic, the
Portuguese reached South America and
took possession of what would later be
called B
RAZIL
. Sailing back toward their
original objective they encountered fierce
gales that sank four ships at the entrance
to the Indian Ocean. One of them was
Dias's. The Cape of Storms, which he had
discovered and originally named, had
claimed his life, and his passage to India
remained incomplete.
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