Paris (AFP)
Almost two years after accusations of sexual harassment that he has always denied, opera legend Placido Domingo says in an interview with AFP that "you cannot rewrite your past", even if you have to be able to "criticize him, including severely".
The one who is still considered by many to be the "king of the opera" is in Paris - for the first time since January 2019 - for a unique recital on Monday at the Salle Gaveau, after having sung in recent months in Moscow, Madrid, Munich and has upcoming concerts in Italy or Vienna.
In an Associated Press investigation in 2019, Placido Domingo, now 80 years old, was accused by about twenty women of sexual harassment (touching, forced kissing, inappropriate remarks, brake on career) from the late 1980s in the United States.
He then resigned from his post as director of the Los Angeles Opera and his career in North America came to an end.
An investigation by AGMA (main union of lyric singers in the United States) had found "inappropriate behavior".
The tenor turned baritone, who has not been the subject of any legal proceedings, apologized, while denying any abuse.
- "Unfair label" -
"It's been some really tough months, but they have passed and I'm glad I got back in touch with the press in a very sincere way. I was wrong in not having done it before, because it was all a media trial, "Domingo told AFP.
If the interview took place face to face, the responses related to the harassment cases were sent to AFP in writing, at the request of the singer's communications team.
He repeats that an "unfair label" was stuck to him, "without merit and in spite of (his) statements".
The singer believes, however, that "today we must look at the past with the eyes of the present, because it is right to ask questions in order to pave the way for a new sensitivity and consciousness".
But, he nuances, "we cannot rewrite our past".
"We have to understand it in context and criticize it, including severely if necessary, but it doesn't make sense to destroy it."
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He continues to receive offers to sing in "theaters around the world, including the United States."
"But it will not be me who would like to put in difficulty the theaters in which I worked all my life".
In his native country, where more than a year ago the Ministry of Culture canceled his performances at the Teatro de la Zarzuela, he has just experienced "the strongest emotion" of his life, during a concert in Madrid , where he was born in 1941.
“It was a great emotion to go on stage and have the whole audience standing and applauding for eight minutes non-stop. As I started to sing, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it under the influence of it. 'emotion".
- The most popular opera?
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A year after having fought the Covid, he returns to "even more intense work".
He "dreams" of coming back to sing at the Palais Garnier, "especially with the arrival of Gustavo Dudamel", the new musical director of the Paris Opera with whom he worked in Los Angeles, and claims to be in contact with Alexander Neef, the boss of the Opera.
Lyrical singer of all records - 151 roles, more than 4,000 performances on stage, more than 100 albums and 103 recalls in 1986 after an "Otello" by Verdi, his favorite opera which he sung 225 times - he says he does not know when it will stop.
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"We can live four lives and there will still be so many operas to sing!"
he jokes.
He will stop if "(his) voice no longer obeys (him) or because it has become physically difficult", says the singer, also a conductor.
Convinced that opera "is more popular than ever", with a "huge" number of lyrical theaters and exceptional voices, he says he was "lucky" to be part of the "Three Tenors", the trio he has. formed with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras and who is partly responsible for their status as world opera superstars.
Having launched "Operalia" in 1996, a prestigious international opera singing competition, he is concerned about the effects of the pandemic on young people who have to start from scratch.
He is however "optimistic" because "there will never be a shortage of lyrical singers ... but it is up to the public to decide who will be the Pavarotti, the Carreras, the Domingo of tomorrow".
© 2021 AFP