Plácido Domingo takes on his sixth role at the Palau de les Arts with Verdi's Simon Boccanegra

It is a production by Lluís Pasqual, premiered in Valencia in 2007, with set design by Ezio Frigerio and costumes by Franca Squarciapino

Valencia. Plácido Domingo takes on his sixth role at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía with Verdi's Simon Boccanegra , which premieres on March 27 in a production by Lluís Pasqual for the Valencian arts center with Evelino Pidó as musical director.

Simon Boccanegra was one of the first baritone roles that the Madrid-born artist included in his vast repertoire, which to date comprises 144 roles. His interpretation of the first Doge of Venice has been one of his most celebrated performances by critics and audiences at major opera houses, such as the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and the Vienna State Opera.

Evelino Pidó, who conducted Domingo in his final performance in the Austrian capital as Simon Boccanegra, will take over as musical director of Verdi's opera in Valencia. A leading maestro for opera's great divas and Angela Gheorghiu's favorite, he has worked with stars such as Elına Gárana and Anna Netrebko. His recent successes with Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur in Vienna and Rossini's Guillaume Tell in Brussels precede his arrival in Valencia.

The cast of Simon Boccanegra features the voices of Chinese soprano Guanqun Yu (Amelia Grimaldi) and Italian tenor Ivan Magrì (Gabriele Adorno), who both sang alongside Plácido Domingo in Verdi's I due Foscari last season. The ensemble is rounded out by Ukrainian bass Vitali Kovaliov (Jacopo Fiesco), Armenian baritone Gevorg Hakobyan (Paolo Albiani), and Russian bass Sergei Artamonov.

With Simon Boccanegra , Plácido Domingo tackles his second Verdi opera at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, with which he has collaborated since its inauguration as a singer, conductor, and promoter and mentor of new musical talent. Over these eight years, he has presented audiences at this Valencian cultural landmark with major works from the repertoire, as well as lesser-known pieces.

Domingo made his debut in Valencian opera as a singer in 2007, when he played Cyrano de Bergerac in the opera of the same name by Franco Alfano, which was presented in a new production by the Valencian arts center with stage direction by Michal Znaniecki and Patrick Fournillier on the podium.

In 2008, he followed this with the role of Oreste in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride , marking his return to the Baroque repertoire after 40 years. Alongside soprano Violeta Urmana, he sang in a co-production between the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Seattle Opera, directed by Stephen Wadsworth, with Patrick Fournillier conducting.

The tenor made his debut in 2009 as part of the program of the II Festival del Mediterrani, the lyrical and symphonic event presided over by Zubin Mehta in June, to bring to life Siegmund in Die Walküre , by Wagner, in the multi-award-winning Valencian production of The Ring of the Nibelung with staging by La Fura dels Baus.

For the 2011-2012 season, Plácido Domingo reserved his first role debut in Valencia. He portrayed Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs , his 139th role, on the centenary of the French composer's death, with Patrick Fournillier, one of the foremost interpreters of Jules Massenet's work, in the pit.

Francesco Foscari in Verdi's I due Foscari was the last role he performed at the Palau de les Arts, in the co-production of the Valencian arts center with Los Angeles Opera, London's Covent Garden and the Austrian Theater an der Wien, with Omer Meir Wellber as musical director.

For the next season, the artist has already announced that he will sing his first zarzuela production in Valencia, Luisa Fernanda , by Moreno Torroba, with Jordi Bernàcer from Alcoy as musical director.

Director, promoter and trainer of new talent

Plácido Domingo's activity in Valencia has extended far beyond his role as an opera singer. Since 2006, when he chose the Palau de les Arts to host 'Operalia', the competition for the promotion of new operatic talent that he himself promotes, his presence and involvement have been constant throughout the Palau's eight-year history.

Among the highlights is the choice of the Valencian cultural enclave to house the Centre de Perfeccionament that bears his name, a high-level training project sponsored by Domingo himself, who has been developing an intense teaching and artistic activity since 2009.

As a conductor, Plácido Domingo has led the tributes that the Palau de les Arts has paid to prominent composers on their anniversaries. He did so in 2008 with 'Homage to Puccini,' which brought together leading figures of the operatic world such as Roberto Alagna, Daniela Barcellona, Mariella Devia, Juan Pons, and Violeta Urmana to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Italian genius's birth.

Plácido Domingo also conducted one of the operas most closely associated with his career as a tenor, Massenet's Le Cid , in 2011, on the centenary of the French composer's death. That same year, he also took on the musical direction of Puccini's Tosca , his first time conducting in the Main Hall. Months later, he would conduct the artists of the Centre de Perfeccionament in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and Amelia al ballo to celebrate the composer's centenary.

Recently, in 2013, he inaugurated the Verdi and Wagner Year celebrations at the Palau de les Arts with orchestral excerpts from both composers. He also conducted this concert in Alicante and Castellón.

Domingo, one of the world's leading ambassadors of zarzuela, also starred in 2010, alongside soprano Virginia Tola, in Noche Española, dedicated to the Spanish lyric genre with Jesús López Cobos leading the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana.

As Domingo himself announced, he will be in charge of opening the season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía for the first time with the musical direction of Puccini's Manon Lescaut in December 2014.