“I have always enjoyed it so much to be in your country...I hope on Saturday the public will be able to enjoy a wonderful concert,” said the tenor, who is also known as one-third of the classical trio The Three Tenors along with Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti.

Domingo will delight fans with a retrospective of

some of his favorite roles, including opera, Spanish zarzuela, and more popular numbers, according to Eugene Kohn, a long-time collaborator of the tenor who will conduct the Taipei Symphony Orchestra to accompany Domingo’s performance.

The artist will also be singing duets with Argentinean soprano Virginia Tola, making her debut in Taiwan, and who is in the maestro’s words, a “wonderful discovery” from the international singing competition Operalia, which he sponsors.

This is the third performance of the operatic artist in Taiwan, who on previous occasions has sung in Mandarin and Taiwanese to the delight of local audiences. When asked if there will be a repeat performance in the local language, he replied teasingly, “Always, you never know. It has to be a surprise.”

Domingo’s fondness of the local audience is evident. “I enjoy the (Taiwan) public tremendously. I compare the public in Taipei with the Latin public. I can see ... the same enthusiasm as the public...in Central and South America,” he said.

“This concert will be ...most memorable... for me and for all the people of Taiwan,” said Frank Huang, chairman of Powerchip Semiconductor Corp. (PSC) and the PSC Cultural Foundation, major sponsors of the event.

Tomorrow’s exclusive appearance in Taiwan will definitely not be missed by fans from abroad, some of who will fly from South Korea and Japan just for the event, explained Hsu Po-yun, founder and CEO of New Aspect International Cultural and Educational Foundation and organizer of the event.

As a token of appreciation, another major sponsor of the event, ING Securities Investment and Trust Co. through its CEO Steven Billiet gave Domingo a cloisonne in the shape of a dragon, to which the tenor jokingly remarked “hey, that’s my sign!” to reporters at the conference held at The Sherwood Taipei, official residence of the artist during his Taiwan stay.

More information on tomorrow’s performance is available in the organizer’s website, http://www.newaspect.org.tw and at http://www.artsticket.com.tw.

Domingo’s versatility and range has allowed him to play 124 roles to date, ranging from Mozart to Verdi, from Berlioz to Puccini, from Wagner to Ginastera.

When asked by The China Post which role he identifies with the most, he compared all the different roles as his children, explaining that there is not one that he loves more than others or that he prefers over others.

“The part that I’m singing that day is the one that I identify with the most...so my preferred character is the one I perform that evening,” the maestro simply put it.

“It is impossible for me, really to say that I love more ...Othello than Sigmund,... or the First Emperor than Romeo... or love Verdi more, or Puccini, or Wagner or Mozart...At the moment when you are performing you really have to respect those works as being masterpieces,” he concluded.

In addition to his busy concert schedule, Domingo is also involved in several music-related activities, such as the world’s biggest voice competition Operalia which he founded 14 years ago, and that has boost the careers of about 80 percent of new opera singers, according to the maestro.

He also serves as the general director of both the Washington Opera and the Los Angeles Opera, and has conducted several operas and symphonic orchestras throughout the years.

His schedule is booked solid well into 2009, when he plans to fulfill his long-held desire to play the title baritone role in Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra.”

As for his secret to staying healthy, the busy 66-year-old singer simply recommended drinking “a lot of water,” which he described as “absolutely the best medicine in the world.”

His drive is his passion for what he does, which has kept his enthusiasm alive to perform night after night in all the years of his artistic life. “What I really love is to live the life of the characters (in the complete operas)...It is a privilege to be somebody else...For me, the stage is my life,” he says, not surprisingly.

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