Unlikely fan: Why opera's biggest star Domingo Placido is crazy for Lady Gaga
Funny how sniffy you can get about hotel lobby music when you are waiting for an audience with Placido Domingo. A piped arrangement of Moon River is never going to make the heart soar but today it is particularly irksome.
Don’t these people know that arguably the greatest tenor on the planet is in the building? I reclaim the cultural high ground with Domingo’s greatest hits on my iPod.
By the time I’m ushered into his presence, I’m a little giddy and weepy. This man’s music can pack a rare emotional punch. But what comes out of Placido’s earphones when he wants to drown out the world?
‘Nothing,’ he says in a surprisingly soft voice. ‘My No. 1 rule is I do not put anything in my ears. No iPod, nothing like this. Even on a plane I won’t put the headphones on to watch a film. When I am teaching, I tell all the young musicians “never put something in your ear to hear music”. Hear it naturally. Then memorise it. The ear is the most precious thing a singer has.’
My biggest worry is not Placido’s ears but his voice. Opera stars can be bad interviewees, because their throat muscles ‘need to rest’. My other worry is he’ll be very highbrow and turn a question about whether he sings in the shower into an exposition about his boxed-set recording of Verdi’s aria.
Mercifully he answers: ‘Of course! I have some of my best performances in the shower. You can risk anything there without worrying about mistakes. I sing more or less my whole repertoire.’
He’s no opera snob either, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as he once recorded an album with John Denver, and he says:
‘I love Celine Dion very much. And Mariah Carey. And Madonna. And Whitney Houston had a wonderful voice.’
His mournful eyes look desperately sad at the mention of Whitney. But then he smiles:
‘And I think Lady Gaga has a very good voice. Absolutely. She has a wonderful voice.
‘I know she’s very wild in her performance, and clever, and she does all these things to please the youth. But when you listen to her, the voice is good.’
A Domingo/Gaga collaboration won’t be happening soon, though, as he is booked solid for years despite being 71.
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@ me being a few seconds later than Oshiish
Greatness recognizes its kind.
her vocals would be perfect