LEGENDARY tenor Plácido Domingo is one of 12 famous faces to win an 'Excellence in Spain' Award – at the same time as being named ambassador for the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
Captain of Real Madrid basketball team Felipe Reyes is another of the remaining 11 to win prizes at the Madrid Excelente gala this week.
Pictured left with acting Madrid regional government president Pedro Rollán, Plácido Domingo, 78, returned to his city of birth to pick up his trophy in recognition of his long professional career in opera and zarzuela, for bringing opera to the ears of new fans, and for helping talented young singers get their futures off the ground.
Married to Mexican lyric soprano Marta Ornelas from 1962 and having grown up and forged his career in her native country, Domingo will probably always be known as one of The Three Tenors, along with Italy's Luciano Pavarotti and Catalunya's José (Josep) Carreras.
During the ceremony in which he received his Excellence Award and just after being named UNWTO ambassador by the organisation's secretary-general Zurab Pololkashvili, Domingo described his native city as 'cosmopolitan, open and inquiring' whilst managing to 'stay faithful to its values and traditions', and Rollán spoke of the capital as being a temple of tourism, with visitor numbers having rocketed by 30% since 2015.
A source of employment for 400,000 residents in the region and contributing 4% of the GDP, tourism in Madrid has gone up by 10% from last year and average tourist spending per head per day is by far the highest in Spain – at €243, compared with the national average of €155.
Rollán revealed this as he presented the Madrid Excelente prizes, one of which went to Felipe Reyes for his leadership skills and for promoting sports and a 'sporting spirit'.
Others went to legal eagle and diplomat Marcelino Oreja; essayist, historian and university professor Fernando Iwasaki; Bankia chairman José Ignacio Goirigolzarri; chief executive of Iberia airlines Luis Gallego; engineer and member of Spain's National Research Council (CSIC) Elena García Armada; chairman of the Garrigues Foundation, Antonio Garrigues Walker; head of the Royal Academy of History, Carmen Iglesias; multi-faceted artist Lita Cabellut; and restaurateur Lucio Blázquez, owner and founder of the eatery Casa Lucio.
