| EVENT REPORT 04.21.08 3:26 PM |
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| Man Power |
| The Los Angeles Opera's acclaimed Plácido Domingo inspired the theme for the group's spring gala—which followed a one-night-only concert and four encores. |
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If anyone can carry the heavy mantle of being larger than life, it's Plácido Domingo, the Los Angeles Opera's Eli and Edythe Broad general director and arguably the world's greatest tenor (as he's dubbed by this month's BBC Music Magazine). With this year's spring opera gala built around Domingo's 40 years as a performer and arts administrator in Los Angeles, Domingo easily made the transition from mere man to theme.
The Plácido Domingo 40th anniversary gala, as it was known, began on Friday with a one-night-only concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion performed by Domingo and soprano Patricia Racette, conducted by the opera's music director, James Conlon. Four encores later, the audience surged out of the concert hall, and 630 guests in black tie passed below three chandeliers hanging from a tented entryway leading to the Music Center Plaza, which organizers had enclosed with temporary walls. Inside, guests found a springtime garden setting designed by Jill Michnick, the company's assistant director of development for special events, in concert with the event co-chairs, Eva and Marc Stern and Carol and Warner Henry. |
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PHOTO GALLERY |
 | The opera gala took over the Music Center Plaza after a one-night-only concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Photo: Chris Werner Design |
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 | Five mannequins sported costumes that Domingo wore in Otello, Pagliacci, and other operas.
Photo: Chris Werner Design |
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Guests moved to tables named after roles Domingo has performed (e.g. Canio), operas he has starred in (Don Rodrigo), and works of music he has conducted ("Verdi's Requiem"), all identified by calligraphic descriptions in gold frames. Against the walls, draped with white chiffon, were four flat-screen TVs, which showed a loop of photos from the tenor's tenure in Los Angeles. Next to the screens, five mannequins sported costumes that Domingo wore in Otello, Pagliacci, and other operas.
Revelers sat down to tables topped with chartreuse cloths, matching napkins, and substantial arrangements of pink peonies, lilies, and roses accented with yellow tulips. Organizers tipped their hat to Domingo in designing the menu, prepared by the Patina Group, which included tapas and other favorites of the Spanish tenor. The grilled rack of lamb on saffron risotto dotted with red peppers even bore the colors of the Spanish flag—yellow and red—“not that anyone would notice, but these were some of the little details we wanted to do to honor Domingo,” Michnick said. The Henry Wine Group supplied Spanish wines: Juan Gil's 2005 Cristalino Cava Brut and Naia's 2005 Cristalino Cava Rose Brut.
Guests, who'd paid between $1,250 and $5,000 per seat, left with commemorative crystal boxes from Tiffany. The event raised more than $1.5 million.
—Irene Lacher
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