Gold and Silver Gala with Placido Domingo

Placido Domingo Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu and a host of other operatic stars celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first performance given by the Covent Garden Opera Company in The Gold and Silver Gala The glittering evening was also a celebration for Domingo himself it was the Silver Jubilee of his first performance as Covent Garden on 8th December 1971 Appropriately he crowned the occasion by conducting Franz Lehars famous waltz Gold and Silver Ealier he was heard in his more familiar tenor guise singing arias along with other members of the stellar company Besides the current golden couple of Alagna and Gheorghiu they included Russian soprano young American baritone Dwayne Croft Among the composers represented in this feast of operatic music familiar and unfamiliar were Verdi Gounod Massenet and Charpentier Asher Fisch conducted the orchestra of the Royal Opera Covent Garden