Placido Domingo to Bring Powerful Pipes to World Cup 2014 Final, Fans Expect More After Pitbull, JLo's 'Underwhelming' Performance
On June 12, the FIFA 2014 World Cup Opening Ceremony began with the sights and the sounds of the Brazilian Amazon — from dancing, human raindrops, trees and acrobatic lilies to human soccer balls. And after the sounds of rainfall and thunder dissipated, Cuban-American rapper Pitbull, Puerto Rican Bronx, New York native Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian singer and "Voice" judge Claudia Leitte, emerged from a giant flower and performed "We Are One," (Ole Ola).
While it sounds fitting for the world's fifth largest country, with some of the most incredible flora and fauna in the world, many fans criticized the colorful display, saying it looked like a sixth-grade "school play" and that the sound had too much echo and they couldn't hear the performance.
There was also a lot of controversy surrounding the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony, from anti-World Cup protests as well as buzz that Lopez was going to be a no-show due to "production issues." However, Lopez put the rumors to rest and showed up full of smiles in a glittery green body suit alongside Leitte, who looked like her twin, but in blue.
The unfortunate, underwhelming performance has left many World Cup fans wondering what the closing ceremony will be like.
Hopefully, one of the Three Tenors will make things right. The legendary Spanish tenor Placido Domingo will bring his powerful pipes to the World Cup final.
On July 11, Domingo, 73, will bring the games to a close by singing at the World Cup final for the sixth time, performing at Rio de Janeiro's HSBC Arena, according to The Associated Press.
Domingo will also share the stage with a powerful Latina operatic singer — Grammy-winning soprano from Puerto Rico, Ana Maria Martinez, as well as pianist Lang Lang, conductor Eugene Kohn and the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira. The concert will take place two days before the final at Maracana Stadium.
Since 1970, Domingo has attended every World Cup final — with the exception of 1978 in Argentina. He sang the 1982 theme song in Spain, "El Mundial." According to Domingo, the program in July will include classical music and Brazilian songs, which will hopefully up the ante from a more technical music perspective, provided that the sound works.
"I always think music and sport are the two great things many people can understand without any need to really speak the language," Domingo told the AP in a telephone interview from London, where he is to conduct Puccini's "Tosca" next week at The Royal Opera. "I have friends from all around the world, and they are really fanatics of soccer and music. It's great to see many of the people I know."
Before the present-day Il Divo, among other up-and coming operatic, male forces, Domingo joined the iconic Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras at Rome's Baths of Caracalla in 1990 to form The Three Tenors. In 1994, the talented trio returned to Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium, in 1998 at Paris' Champ de Mars and Eiffel Tower and in 2002 at Japan's Yokohama Arena.
While Pavarotti retired from staged opera two years later and sang publicly for the last time at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Domingo continued on to perform. Before the 2006 World Cup final, Domingo was joined by soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Rolando Villazon for a concert at Berlin's Waldbuehne, the AP adds.
Still active on the opera scene, Domingo takes on baritone rather than tenor roles nowadays. In 2003, he took on a more behind-the-scenes type of role by becoming the general director of the Los Angeles Opera.
In 2010, Domingo was on hand to celebrate his home country Spain's victory over the Netherlands in South Africa, but he didn't sing at that World Cup because we was in the midst of a run of Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" at London's Royal Opera," according to the Los Angeles Times.
An avid soccer fan, Domingo reportedly hopes Spain will be repeat champions this year, but they are off to a bad start. On Friday, June 13, Spain lost to the Netherlands, 5-1, leaving many fans upset at an outcome that's being called "inexplicable" by die-hard fans.
Check out the FIFA World Cup Opening Ceremony featuring Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez and Claudia Leitte and you be the judge.