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marta Marta & Family
"Thank you, you are my helpmate and my best critic ever since."

Two important events in Plácido Domingo’s life took place in 1962: He married the soprano Marta Ornelas, whom he had met during his Conservatory days, and the two of them moved to Tel Aviv to become members of the Hebrew National Opera. They worked hard for survival-level wages, but they both learned a great deal during their three Israeli seasons. After they left Israel, Marta gave up her singing career in order to raise their children (Plácido, Jr., was born in 1965, Alvaro in 1968) and to help his career to blossom, and she has been his helpmate and best critic ever since. However, she never stopped her interest and creative input to the field of opera. It was 25 years of traveling and observing operatic performances in the world’s leading opera houses, that formed the nucleus of her interest in staging opera. Plácido Domingo is happy that, now that their children are grown, Marta has taken on a new activity in opera as a stage director.

familie02 Marta Domingo
Director

Marta Domingo, nee Marta Ornelas, began her musical education at an early age.

Coming from a family which was deeply immersed in the cultural scene of their native Mexico, with art and music being an integral part of their daily life, little Marta had already begun studying the piano, composition, art and painting at the tender age of eight. In her teens, she entered the Conservatory of Mexico to concentrate on studying voice - specializing at first in Mozart and German lieder. While at the Conservatory, she also gave special attention to languages. Eventually, she joined the Opera Bellas Artes in Mexico City, singing many different soprano roles.

Award
As the best Mozartian singer

In 1961, she received the highest award as the best Mozartian singer for her performances of Susanna in "Le Nozze di Figaro" opposite the Figaro of Cesare Siepi and the Countess of Teresa Stitch Randall. It was during this period that Marta Ornelas met a young colleague by the name of Plácido Domingo. After a brief courtship, they were married in 1962. Almost immediately thereafter, they were both engaged by the then named Opera Company of Israel. By this time, Marta Ornelas’ repertory included such diverse roles as Despina in "Cosi fan tutte", Rosina in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", Rosalinde in "Die Fledermaus", Micaela in "Carmen", Marguerite in "Faust", Tatiana in "Eugene Onegin", Donna Elivra in "Don Giovanni", Mimi in "La Bohème", Lauretta in "Gianni Schicchi", Maddalena in "Andrea Chenier", and Nedda in "I Pagliacci".

Marta's Directing Debut
"Samson et Dalila"

Her directing debut took place in 1991 with “Samson et Dalila” for CulturArte at the Teatro de la Opera in Puerto Rico. Since then she has directed “Tosca” for the opening of Seville’s La Meaestranza Theater, “Barbiere di Siviglia” for Puerto Rico, “La Rondine” for the Bonn Opera, Washington National Opera, Warsaw Opera and Los Angeles Opera. This acclaimed production has been seen internationally on television (in the U.S. on the PBS network). She has directed the casts in an inherited “Rigoletto” production for both the Los Angeles and the Washington Operas. Her new production of “Traviata” has been seen in Liège, Washington, Los Angeles and St. Etienne. Her production of Wolf Ferrari’s “Sly” at the Washington National Opera gave the work its American stage premiere and served also as her directing debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She also directed it in Tokyo during the Washington Opera’s tour of Japan and at the Rome Opera. She created her “Contes d’Hoffmann” production for the Kirov Opera in St. Petersburg and it has been seen subsequently at Washington National Opera and the Los Angeles Opera.
She directs and designs a new production of “Traviata” for the Los Angeles Opera this May (2006) which will also open the 2006/7 season of the company and which is scheduled to be taped then for a DVD release.