Rubén Domínguez was a Venezuelan lirico-spinto tenor. He is recognized for his work within the lirico-spinto repertory, as well as works by Bellini and

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian Romantic composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera ...

. He played many

verismo In opera, , from , meaning 'true', was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an operatic ge ...

roles such as Canio in ''

Pagliacci ''Pagliacci'' (; literal translation, 'Clowns') is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who mu ...

''. He also played

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

, Mario Cavaradossi, Manrico, Radamés and Calaf.

Early life

Rubén Domínguez was born on September 4, 1935, in

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. When Domínguez was pressured by a Venezuelan political party (AD) that he would never sing in Venezuela if he did not study with party protégé, Carmen Teresa Hurtado, he chose instead to move to

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. Mr. Dominguez was married to Cuban American, Asunción M. Ferrer.

Musical career

In Milan he was accepted as a student of Spanish voice teacher

Mercedes Llopart Mercedes Llopart (1895 – 2 September 1970) was a Spanish soprano who later became a notable singing teacher in Italy. Mercedes Llopart studied in her native Barcelona and made her operatic debut there in 1915. She then went to Italy where sh ...

, also the teacher of the Spanish tenor,

Alfredo Kraus Alfredo Kraus Trujillo (; 24 November 192710 September 1999) was a distinguished Spanish tenor from the Canary Islands (known professionally as Alfredo Kraus), particularly known for the artistry he brought to opera's bel canto roles. He was ...

. He made his international operatic debut in ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

'' at the Teatro de Bellas Artes in 1967. Domínguez followed this with performances of the same opera in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

opposite soprano Magda Olivero. He later returned to

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

and participated in various productions in the Opera Metropolitana de Caracas (OMAC). He has sung in the principal houses of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

including the

Municipal Theater of Santiago The Teatro Municipal, National Opera of Chile is the most important stage theatre and opera house in Santiago, Chile. History and overview The Chilean government ceded a significant parcel of land in downtown Santiago to the municipality, in 184 ...

and the Teatro Municipal of Rio de Janeiro in its 1978 reopening performance of ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' with Ghena Dimitrova. He has also participated in various opera festivals such as the Puccini Festival in

Torre del Lago Torre del Lago (Tower of the Lake) is a town of almost 11,000 inhabitants, a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Viareggio, in the province of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, between the Lake of Massaciuccoli and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Festival Puccini, ...

, Italy, La Stagione Lirica Estiva de Cagliari in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, the San Francisco Opera Festival, and the International Festival of the Opera Metropolitana de Caracas. In

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

he has performed at the Metropolitan Opera House and the Teatro de Bellas Artes. Domínguez has performed in the opera companies of Edmonton, Baltimore, San Diego, New Orleans, Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Opera Pacific. In 1988, Domínguez was awarded the Luciano Pavarotti Award. In addition to his on-stage experience, Domínguez has been involved in teaching in the form of master classes in vocal production. Rubén Domínguez died in his native Caracas on September 11, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominguez, Ruben Venezuelan operatic tenors 1935 births 2015 deaths Singers from Caracas 20th-century male opera singers 20th-century Venezuelan male singers