Celebrated Spanish tenor Placido Domingo on Friday said he hopes to keep singing for years to come, as international opera stars put on a gala show in Madrid to mark his 70th birthday.
The event at the Teatro Real opera house in Domingo's native city, was just one of many tributes to the performer, well known to popular music audiences for his "Three Tenors" performances with Jose Carreras and the late Luciano Pavarotti.
Around 20 of the world's leading opera singers flew in to perform some 15 arias, sources at the Teatro Real said.
"I feel very happy, very lucky and very thankful for all the public has given me around the world, they gave so much encouragement," Domingo told reporters in the Spanish capital.
"To arrive at 70 singing is a great privilege for me and it is a great privilege to be able to make the public happy still," he added.
"I don't know how many more years I am going to be singing... but at the moment I still can do it," said Domingo, who underwent surgery last year to remove a cancerous polyp from his colon.
"Probably if I feel strong physically and I am believable on the stage, I would continue singing opera for a few years," he added, while stressing how tiring the preparation for operas can be, requiring "eight to ten hours a day."
However his many fans were assured that "to sing concerts is easier... I might do (that) longer than opera," said Domingo, who is also director of the Washington National and Los Angeles Operas.
Domingo, and the rest of the audience, were unaware until the last minute exactly who has traveled to Madrid to perform.
He himself was to watch the evening's entertainment from the balcony, with his family, before a much-anticipated turn in the spotlight with the other performers on stage at the end.
The gala, which Spain's Queen Sofia was also due to attend, was made more accessible thanks to a giant screen erected in the Plaza de Oriente outside and broadcasts in around 20 countries.
"To be in Madrid singing, with my family and friends, on such an important day for me is part of my birthday present," Domingo told a news conference earlier this month.
The tenor has been performing the role of Oreste in Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera "Iphigenie en Tauride" at the Teatro Real this month. The opera runs until January 27.
On Tuesday, he received the Spanish government's Order of Arts and Letters for "his extraordinary artistic career as a singer and orchestra conductor."
The Teatro Real has also offered people from around the world the chance to wish Domingo 'happy birthday' on its official web site.
Born in Madrid, he moved to Mexico as a child with his parents, who ran a company that performed zarzuela, the traditional Spanish operetta.
He made his operatic debut in a leading role as Alfredo in Verdi's "La Traviata" in Monterrery in Mexico nearly five decades ago.
The Grammy-winner's repertoire encompasses 130 stage roles -- a number unmatched by any other celebrated tenor in history.
source:msn.com/Agence France-Presse
