A To Z Challenge, Music Blog

That’s Entertainment – Letter D

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Welcome back to “That’s Entertainment!” –
The A To Z Challenge.
I hope you enjoy my musical selections.
Let’s see what’s up today!

© NAR
Artwork by Ernest Federspiel

PLÁCIDO DOMINGO – Five years after he was born in Madrid, Spain in 1941, Plácido Domingo’s mother knew he would be a musician destined for greatness …. and her instincts were right! That small boy grew to become a world-famous opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. In 1962, when Domingo was only 21 years old, he was a resident performer at Tel Aviv’s Hebrew National Opera. He made his debut at the New York City Opera in 1965, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in 1968 (subsequently becoming a regular performer there), and at La Scala in Milan in 1969. Over the course of an opera career that lasted more than five decades, Domingo sang an unprecedented number of different roles and continued to learn new parts into his 70s. He has recorded more than one hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English and Russian in the most prestigious opera houses in the world. His resonant, powerful tenor voice, imposing physical stature, good looks, and dramatic ability made him one of the most popular tenors of his time. One of Domingo’s most memorable roles is that of Prince Calaf in the opera Turandot. Giacomo Puccini’s opera is set in China and follows Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the coldhearted Princess Turandot. In order to melt her heart and win her hand in marriage, a suitor must solve three riddles, with a wrong answer resulting in his execution. Calaf passes the test, but Turandot still refuses to marry him. In the aria Nessun Dorma (“Let no one sleep“) Calaf, sings of his determination to win the hand of the cold and proud Princess Turandot and will not sleep until he does. 

This is “Nessun Dorma”  by the Placido Domingo


Please join me again tomorrow for more of “That’s Entertainment” and the A To Z Challenge!

I’m Nancy and I’ll see you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

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30 thoughts on “That’s Entertainment – Letter D”

  3. I have never been into opera, per say, but when I lived out San Francisco way, all the little old Italian ladies in North Beach just loved their opera and you could hear it playing everywhere! It was so delightful in that setting.

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  11. Such a beautiful aria and very well known! It was further popularised when the BBC used it as the opening theme and closing credits for their coverage of the 1990 coverage of the FA cup in Italy. They actually used the version by Luciano Pavarotti. Both singers are wonderful ! The theme was extremely well received and could be heard everywhere!

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    2. Willow, I am so glad you mentioned “well-known”; there is a method to my madness, after all. I knew going into this challenge that featuring classical music or opera would turn some people off and I’m sure there are some people who will skip right over my classical posts, which is a shame. That’s why I won’t be featuring anything unfamiliar. As the famous saying goes, ‘you can’t please all the people all the time’. I figured if I’m going to offer an aria, I should offer one that everyone has heard before; at least give the piece a fighting chance! When you think that this aria has been performed by Pavarotti, Domingo, Boccelli, Bryan Adams, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Michael Bolton, Adam Lambert, Queen and even Manowar, then I say it’s pretty damn universal!

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      1. I agree Sis , I always am pleased to see a classical piece being used for an advert, a film or show soundtrack. Sometimes it’s the only way to get over how amazing classical music can be.

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