Domingo Delights at Post-Concert Gala

After a stroke of seamless diplomacy by David DiChiera, tenor Placido Domingo on Sunday night agreed to return to Orange County for an encore performance with Opera Pacific.

“I guess I will--I really love it here,” Domingo told the 575 guests who attended the $300-per-person gala that followed his appearance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Minutes before, DiChiera--general director of Opera Pacific--told guests at the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel that Domingo “promised our table he would come back next year.”

When Domingo heard those words, he flashed a smile and gave a “maybe” sign.

But when it was his turn to speak before the black-tie crowd, the boyish-looking virtuoso decided to live up to his promise. “Orange County is one of the most beautiful places on earth. You should be proud of it,” he said. “I want to come back.”

Special guests at the gala included the Duke and Duchess of San Carlos, Spain--Alvaro Fernandez-Villaverde y de Silva and Estrella Bernaldo de Quiros y Tacon--and Spain’s consul general in Los Angeles, Eduardo Garrigues.

Addressing guests, Garrigues called Domingo “our best Spanish ambassador by far.”

Domingo is an ambassador, all right. Through all of the social courtesies he extended on Sunday night--the post-concert handshakes, the autographs, the endless schmoozing--Domingo was all style and grace, a paradigm of charm.

“My goodness, the crowd is descending on him like locusts,” sniffed one opera buff as she dined on roast garlic pork tenderloin at a table topped with candelabra, orchids and lilies.

Who could blame them? This was the supernova Opera Pacific supporters had waited and waited for.

“ Years !” piped opera activist Floss Schumacher, gala co-chairwoman with Dotti Stillwell. “When I was in New York 15 years ago, I heard Domingo sing and I knew he had to come to Orange County. But where? We had to build a center first.”

In a private moment, DiChiera remarked that Domingo’s appearance was a milestone in Opera Pacific’s history.

“Now we have had all of the great superstars of the operatic firmament here at the Center,” he said. “Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland.”

After the concert, guests such as Maria del Carmen Calvo, honorary gala chairwoman, and her husband, Dr. Walter Henry, mingled with arts philanthropists Henry Segerstrom and William Lyon as they waited for Domingo to appear. (Domingo made a quick stop in his hotel room to change from white tie and tails to black tie and tux.)

“The performance was unbelievably great,” said Center chairman Lyon. “How could anything be more wonderful? He is one of the great personalities of the world.”

Also mingling with guests was soprano Ann Panagulias, 28, whose appearance at Segerstrom Hall marked the fourth time she had appeared with the tenor.

“Domingo is wonderful to sing with,” said the Greece-born Panagulias, who lives in San Francisco. “He is so natural and giving. There is nothing fake about him.”

I’m betting that 575 opera buffs agree.

Also among the guests were concert conductor John DeMain, concert underwriters James and Dorothy Conte and Harry and Helen Reinsch (who paid for Domingo’s appearance) and Roger and Candace Schnapp, who paid for the appearance of Panagulias.

* REVIEW: By Chris Pasles. F1