Plácido Domingo: “I like Reggaeton music, but I'd never dare sing it”

One of the famous 'Three Tenors', along with compatriot José Carreras and Italian Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, OBE appeared on the off-the-wall talk show El Hormiguero this week to present his new album, Volver.

In it, the 77-year-old breaks away from his usual style, saying that 'after having sung so many operas', he 'felt like making an album with more popular music'.

The Madrid-born singer and composer landed at 06.00 from New York – he is currently director of the Washington National Opera House – on the day of his appearance on the show hosted by Pablo Motos on Spain's third channel, Antena 3.

“I grabbed a quick nap and I had a terrible nightmare – I dreamt that I fell asleep on set,” Domingo confessed once the cameras started to roll.

On El Hormiguero, presenter Pablo asks questions that never come up in traditional media interviews, and in Domingo's case, the subject turned onto the advisability or otherwise of making love before a performance.

“I was watching Operación Triunfo [a precursor to The X-Factor in Spain] and they were saying if you make love before singing, you drop down one or two octaves. That can't be right, or Julio Iglesias would never be able to do concerts,” Motos said.

Domingo answered: “You need all your strength and to throw yourself into both making love and singing opera, so I think it's better not to do the former the day before you have to do the latter – you need to conserve your energy.”

Recognising that opera was very much a love-it-or-hate-it musical genre, Domingo recommends that anyone wanting to break themselves into it gently should start with 'something like The Barber of Seville, for comedy, or La Bohème, Aida or Carmen for tragedies' as they were easier on the ear and the brain.

And he admitted that after a long, intense performance, he would be wiped out.

“After singing a really tragic opera like Othello, I'd be asleep in the green room if I could, but I never get the chance – you always have to greet the audience and then all the people waiting for you outside the theatre,” Domingo confesses.

Spain's greatest musical export revealed on the show that he likes and listens to 'all types of music', not just classical or opera.

“I really admire, and listen to, Reggaeton,” Domingo admitted,”but I'd never dare to perform it, because it's a bit more speaking than singing, and my 'thing' is singing.”