Anyone lucky enough to get a ticket for the Royal Opera House's 26 June dress rehearsal of Simon Boccanegra may be wondering why the start time was pulled forward to 10.30am.
The reason is that its famously multitasking star Plácido Domingo has signed up for another gig that night - and it's 1000 miles away.
The "Musikalische Rückschau der Direktion Holender 1991-2010" at the Vienna State Opera is a gala concert celebrating outgoing Intendant Ioan Holender's 20-ish years at the helm. Other stars appearing include two more from Simon Boccanegra - Tony Pappano and Ferruccio Furlanetto - and Anna Netrebko, who is scheduled (though who knows) to appear in Covent Garden's Manon the night before.
The dress rehearsal ends at 1.30pm and the Holender-fest starts at 6.30pm (which is 5.30pm in the UK). So if Pláci can't spare a moment to warp the space/time continuum it looks as if an economically-shared private jet is in order.
(On a related note, Intermezzo is eagerly awaiting the famously dirt-dishing Herr Holender's autobiography, expected any day soon.)
(ありがとうございました for the tip and see you soon!)
